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  • Essay / Symbolism of “The Tempest” - 1527

    Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Tempest,” one of her most daring stories and did not even intend to publish it (Cutter 191). The two main characters of the story are Calixta and Alcee. They were both attracted to each other in previous years, but now they are both married to someone else. After Alcee arrives at Calixta's house in search of shelter, they are thrust into a passionate moment in the story "The Tempest." "The storm has significant meaning; without it, the affair between Calixta and Alcee would not have been as powerful as it was between them. "The Storm" has a lot of symbolism throughout the story: the clouds, the use of white, the storm relating to the affair, the aftermath of the affair, Calixta, Bibi the son, and the husband Bobinot Leaving, the son Bibi and the father Bobinot wait at the store. that the storm passes then Bobinot remarks to the son "the clouds rolled with sinister intent coming from the west, accompanied by a sullen and menacing roar" (Chopin 531 The menacing roar of Alcee seduces Calixta to). having a passionate time with him Lawrence I. Berkove said, "The mood of the entire story is set by the section's description of storm clouds arriving with 'ominous intent'" (225). Chopin uses "the clouds" to symbolize Alcée coming with bad intention to Bobinot's house, accompanied by his dark spirit. Their bond is as strong as a great roar in the sky. Chopin uses the color white again and again in “The Storm” to symbolize purity and innocence. Chopin relates that Calixta “untied her white sack at the throat,” showing us how she freed herself, as if freed from a chain (531). Chopin describes the house...... middle of paper ......orton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton & Co., 2007. Print.Cutter, Martha J. “Losing the Battle but Winning the War: Resistance to Patriarchal Discourse in Kate Chopin's Short Fiction.” » Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 11.1 (1994): 253-68. Reprinted in News Review. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 68. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 182-93. Holtman, Janet. “Failing Fictions: The Conflicting and Shifting Social Overtones of Kate Chopin’s “Local Color” Stories.” » Southern Quarterly. 42.2 (winter 2004): 73-88. Reprinted in News Review. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 110. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 69-78. Stein, Allen. “The Kaleidoscope of Truth: A New Look at Chopin’s “The Tempest”” American Literary Realism. 36.1 (fall 2003): 51-64. Reprinted in Short Story Review. Ed. Janet Witalec. Flight. 110. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 54-61.