In her short story “The Storm”, Kate Chopin shows herself to be far ahead of her time in terms of her exploration of women’s place in American society at the turn of the twentieth century by presenting female characters with their own sexual agency. Both women of “The Storm” are married yet find happiness through momentarily escaping their marriages: Calixta seeks fulfillment through an affair with a former beau, while Clarisse finds relief in abstinence. In this way, Chopin’s text is a feminist assertion of women’s rights over their bodies and their relations, in a time when women had little independence and where the acknowledgment of feminine sexual desire was widely censured. While it remains possible to interpret Calixta’s
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In taking a holiday without her husband Alcée, and thus abstaining from her ‘wifely duty’, she takes “the first free breath since her marriage” (548). Though she is devoted to her husband, “their intimate conjugal life was something which she was more than willing to forego for a while” (548). Like Calixta, Clarisse finds happiness in momentarily escaping her marriage and returning to “the pleasant liberty of her maiden days” (548): the first is reminded of her days as a debutant by reuniting with a former suitor, while the later meets with many of her old friends and acquaintances at Biloxi. Interestingly, Alcée’s affair seems to deepen his understanding and acceptance of his wife’s right to autonomy. Though his motivations may be ambiguous in writing “a loving letter, full of tender solicitude” (547) suggesting to his wife that she extend her holiday on the night of his affair, Alcée “realiz[es] that their [Clarisse and their children] health and pleasure were the first things to be considered” (548). His sincerity is hinted at by Chopin’s statement that Calixta and her family laughed “so loud that anyone might have heard them as far away as Laballière’s” (547). Alcée Laballière is thus not only “far away” form Calixta, but her happiness in her marriage to Bobinôt is plain for him to hear, suggesting that their affair is not planned to reoccur and that Alcée’s message to his wife is heartfelt. If such is the case, then the affair is not only an empowering act for Calixta, it equally leads to Alcée’s realization of his wife’s, and all of women’s, rights to independence and sexual agency. In an era where women were widely viewed by men as their subordinates, Chopin presents the possibility of a man accepting of, and even encouraging, women’s equal position in
In taking a holiday without her husband Alcée, and thus abstaining from her ‘wifely duty’, she takes “the first free breath since her marriage” (548). Though she is devoted to her husband, “their intimate conjugal life was something which she was more than willing to forego for a while” (548). Like Calixta, Clarisse finds happiness in momentarily escaping her marriage and returning to “the pleasant liberty of her maiden days” (548): the first is reminded of her days as a debutant by reuniting with a former suitor, while the later meets with many of her old friends and acquaintances at Biloxi. Interestingly, Alcée’s affair seems to deepen his understanding and acceptance of his wife’s right to autonomy. Though his motivations may be ambiguous in writing “a loving letter, full of tender solicitude” (547) suggesting to his wife that she extend her holiday on the night of his affair, Alcée “realiz[es] that their [Clarisse and their children] health and pleasure were the first things to be considered” (548). His sincerity is hinted at by Chopin’s statement that Calixta and her family laughed “so loud that anyone might have heard them as far away as Laballière’s” (547). Alcée Laballière is thus not only “far away” form Calixta, but her happiness in her marriage to Bobinôt is plain for him to hear, suggesting that their affair is not planned to reoccur and that Alcée’s message to his wife is heartfelt. If such is the case, then the affair is not only an empowering act for Calixta, it equally leads to Alcée’s realization of his wife’s, and all of women’s, rights to independence and sexual agency. In an era where women were widely viewed by men as their subordinates, Chopin presents the possibility of a man accepting of, and even encouraging, women’s equal position in