Women's Sexuality In The Storm By Kate Chopin

“The Storm” by Kate Chopin is a short story in which she critiques commonly held ideals regarding women’s sexuality. Calixta is the same as every other mother and wife: she has laundry to do and mouths to feed. However, she brings to light something that all women have, but no one will talk about-a women’s sexuality. Chopin demonstrates women’s sexuality in an incredibly insightful way. She uses the natural environment as a way to get her point across. Additionally, using the natural environment in this context sends the message that a women’s sexuality is a natural thing. Chopin shows that women have desires too. “The Storm” was written in the nineteenth century; however, it was not published immediately. In the nineteenth century, women were

This is opposite of social norms in the nineteenth century because a woman having sexual desires was not natural, and she must be coerced into sexual acts by a man. Chopin writes a story where Calixta’s sexual desire builds without her really noticing it because a women having sexual desires is natural. Calixta is described as “greatly occupied and [does] not notice the approaching storm” (154). Calixta puts her needs and wants to the side to take care of her husband and son, but now she needs to do something for herself. In the late-nineteenth-century, women were thought to be happy with whatever their man could give them, Calixta wants more. Calixta’s levees are about to break, “If this keeps up, Dieu sait if the levees goin’ to stan’ it!,” she exclaimed (155). The metaphorical levees do eventually break because Calixta and Alcée do have sex. Calixta’s levees are holding her back from going after what she really wants. Her levees being her husband and son, society’s expectations of women to keep everybody else happy, and Alcée’s family. Social norms are for women to keep everyone else happy, especially men. Calixta chooses to go against social norms and please herself for

Kate Chopin takes the environment and manipulates it to fit her narrative. The storm inside is just as powerful, if not more, than the storm outside. The storms follow each other through every stage. When the storm outside is building, so is the storm inside. When the storm outside builds and strengthens, the storm inside follows suit. As the storm outside calms down, so does the storm inside. They share almost everything in common. They both leave nothing behind. When the storms are done, everything goes back to normal because they are both natural occurrences. So, what made this so controversial in the nineteenth century that Kate Chopin never even sent it in to be published? It discussed a topic that was considered taboo-a woman’s sexuality. She made it seem so natural and inevitable. She uses the storm in a way that shows that a women’s sexuality is not to be condemned, controlled, or held back. Instead, a women’s sexuality should be set free and it should be released. A women’s sexuality should be allowed to thunder and strike when it chooses to, just like a storm. It also shows that a women’s sexuality is an unstoppable force. You cannot stop a storm, you cannot force it to quit raining or lightning. You cannot put a stop to it. You cannot force a woman to stop having sexual needs and wanting them to be met. A woman’s sexuality cannot be stopped, it is