The Storm
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The Storm
byKate Chopin
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“The Storm” complicates the traditional symbolic significance of the color white—a common symbol for purity—by making it also represent sexual passion. First, Chopin describes the sensual areas of Calixta’s body—namely her throat and her breasts—as white, conflating the color with bodily pleasure. Second, Chopin uses white to describe Calixta and Bobinôt’s bedroom, where Alcée and Calixta have sex. Third, Chopin describes Calixta’s sexual desire for Alcée as a “white flame.” Through each mention of white, Chopin engages color traditionally associated with sexual innocence to describe the occurrence of sex itself—and extramarital sex, at that.
Chopin also describes lightening striking a tree with a reference to pale colors, noting that “[i]t filled all visible space with a blinding glare.” In doing so, Chopin develops the symbol of Calixta’s sexual desire, the thunderstorm, through associations to purity. As most readers will automatically associate white with virtue, Chopin implicitly associates Alcée and Calixta’s affair—steeped in white—with virtue, too. Thus, rather than cast sex between Alcée and Calixta as sinful transgression, the brief affair is described as a blameless, beautiful act of pure love.
The Color White Quotes in The Storm
The The Storm quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Color White. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2Quotes
Calixta, at home, felt no uneasiness for their safety. She sat at a side window sewing furiously on a sewing machine. She was greatly occupied and did not notice the approaching storm. But she felt very warm and often stopped to mop her face, on which the perspiration gathered in beads. She unfastened her white sacque at the throat.
Related Characters:Calixta, Bobinôt, Bibi
Related Symbols:The Thunderstorm, The Color White
Page Number and Citation:267
Explanation and Analysis:
He pushed her hair back from her face that was warm and steaming. Her lips were as red and moist as pomegranate seed. Her white neck and a glimpse of her full, firm bosom disturbed him powerfully. As she glanced up at him the fear in her liquid blue eyes had given place to a drowsy gleam that unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire.
Related Characters:Calixta, Alcée Laballière
Related Symbols:The Thunderstorm, The Color White
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:268
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The Color White Symbol Timeline in The Storm
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Color White appears in The Storm. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2
...furiously.” The house is stuffy and uncomfortably warm, causing sweaty Calixta to unbutton the stiff, white collar of her dress as she sews. She’s so consumed by her work that she...(full context)
...the living and dining room); the door to the adjacent bedroom is open, and the “white, monumental bed” looks “dim and mysterious” in the darkened room.(full context)
...Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes a tree that’s not too far off; everything goes white, and a deafening crash follows, which shakes the house. Startled, Calixta and Alcée jump into...(full context)
...in the “dim, mysterious chamber” and lie together. The couple’s sexual desire ignites like a “white flame,” and they have passionate sex. Calixta’s body “know[s] for the first time its birthright,”...(full context)
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