Merriam-Webster defines imagery as “language that causes people to imagine pictures in their mind.” When an experienced writer uses imagery, that is exactly what happens, pictures form in the reader’s mind. In her short story “The Storm”, Kate Chopin uses imagery to describe Calixta, Alcee, and the thunderstorm.
To begin, let us focus on Mrs. Chopin’s description of Calixta. When Chopin introduces Calixta, she is stationed by a window “sewing furiously on a sewing machine”(6). At first, she is oblivious to the storm and trouble it may bring. However, once she first speaks to Alcee, she is startled, and becomes nervous. As the story progresses and she and Alcee go inside to escape the storm, she “ nervously began to gather up from the floor the lengths of cotton sheet which she had been sewing” (14) this shows her recognition of the dangers present. When a bolt of lightning strikes the chinaberry tree, she is startled, but “Alcee’s arm encircled her, and for an instant drew her close” (20). This short embrace reminds Calixta of the time before her marriage to Bobinot. A time when her and Alcee were lovers in the Parish of Assumption, and they both felt little emotion other than passion and desire for one another. Chopin eloquently describes this
…show more content…
This shows how Calixta,in an attempt to comfort herself and forget the troubles of the storm, embraces