The Storm Questions for Discussion
1. Kate Chopin’s The Storm is an excellent story to teach setting because of how she gives each of the settings in the story significance. Chopin masterfully builds up the plot using the settings in The Storm. In Part I, Bibi and Bobinôt are out at the store and it is about to rain. If they had not been out of the house, Calixta and Alcée would not have been able to be alone to have sex. Chopin also uses the setting to guide the audience through Calixta’s and Alcée’s act of having sex. When the storm is building up, so is the sexual tension between the two former lovers. During the storm, they have sex. After the storm, the sex has ended, and Calixta and Alcée go back to living their lives. Chopin’s settings are more than just simple descriptions of the space around the characters—they have deeply symbolic meanings behind them as well.
2. An important circumstance that is described in Part I is that Bibi and Bobinôt are not at home. They are out buying things at the store, and at the same time, Bobinôt is teaching Bibi about what it means to be a man. Thus, when the storm comes, they cannot go back home, and this sets up the perfect situation for Calixta and Alcée to have sex. Bobinôt’s misconceptions about Calixta being afraid of the storm also reveal that …show more content…
The title, “The Storm”, has many possible meanings. An obvious meaning of “the storm” is that it refers to the actual storm that occurs in the story, which was the reason why the events of the story occurred in the first place. Without the storm, Calixta and Alcée would not have been alone to have their intimate moment. Another meaning of the title could be that “the storm” refers to the sex itself. Storms are turbulent with thunder, wind, and lightning, which could represent the passionate act of having sex. The beginning of the storm signals the beginning of Calixta’s and Alcée’s sex—when the “growl of thunder [is] distant and [passes] away,” they finish their
1. Kate Chopin’s The Storm is an excellent story to teach setting because of how she gives each of the settings in the story significance. Chopin masterfully builds up the plot using the settings in The Storm. In Part I, Bibi and Bobinôt are out at the store and it is about to rain. If they had not been out of the house, Calixta and Alcée would not have been able to be alone to have sex. Chopin also uses the setting to guide the audience through Calixta’s and Alcée’s act of having sex. When the storm is building up, so is the sexual tension between the two former lovers. During the storm, they have sex. After the storm, the sex has ended, and Calixta and Alcée go back to living their lives. Chopin’s settings are more than just simple descriptions of the space around the characters—they have deeply symbolic meanings behind them as well.
2. An important circumstance that is described in Part I is that Bibi and Bobinôt are not at home. They are out buying things at the store, and at the same time, Bobinôt is teaching Bibi about what it means to be a man. Thus, when the storm comes, they cannot go back home, and this sets up the perfect situation for Calixta and Alcée to have sex. Bobinôt’s misconceptions about Calixta being afraid of the storm also reveal that …show more content…
The title, “The Storm”, has many possible meanings. An obvious meaning of “the storm” is that it refers to the actual storm that occurs in the story, which was the reason why the events of the story occurred in the first place. Without the storm, Calixta and Alcée would not have been alone to have their intimate moment. Another meaning of the title could be that “the storm” refers to the sex itself. Storms are turbulent with thunder, wind, and lightning, which could represent the passionate act of having sex. The beginning of the storm signals the beginning of Calixta’s and Alcée’s sex—when the “growl of thunder [is] distant and [passes] away,” they finish their