The last line of Kate Chopin’s The Storm is a tricky one and
I’m sure there will be varying degrees of interpretation and opinion from other
classmates in their blog posts. “So the storm left and everyone was happy.”
I think what Kate Chopin is essentially trying to say with this last line is
that after their sexual encounter, Alcee and especially Calixta, are happy, renewed, and
don’t regret what has happened between them even though many would say that
this act of infidelity should have them feeling shame and regret. In class,
Scott mentioned that this could be seen as the start of more feminist writing
and I can definitely see this story as supporting a more feminist attitude
especially for when it was written because in a time where women still have nearly
no political power or say this story highlights women as freethinking individuals with
their own complex desires and needs. This line could also pertain to both Alcee
and Calixta’s spouses, Bobinot and Clarisse, simply being happy because they
are oblivious to what has happened and perhaps even that they will be happier
now that they have Alcee and Calixta returning to them renewed just like the
earth after a storm. What I find interesting is that usually an author that
wrote over a hundred years ago hints at something that was controversial in the
past and today it is not considered so controversial but this isn’t the case
with The Storm, it is still controversial today since what I believe Chopin is
expressing is that the confines of marriage shouldn’t always come before the needs
of the individual.
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