Similarities Between The Storm And How I Met My Husband

Longing and love. Two words that we, as human beings, have been programmed to see as synonyms to one another. One cannot have love without longing, longing without love. These two words have an almost dynamic affect in the relationships we form throughout our lives. When we are experiencing longing for an individual, we must almost definitely love that person as well, or so we’ve witnessed in countless examples of film and Harlequin novels. Kate Chopin’s short story, “ The Storm,” and Alice Munro’s “How I Met My Husband,” longing and love can exist in a person’s life individually. One does not ease to exist because the other is not present. In Kate Chopin’s short story, the theme centers on the explosive episode of intimacy between Calixta and Alce Laballire, something as natural and as fleeting as a Louisiana storm. In

Alice Munro’s “How I Met My husband,” the theme portrays the coming of womanhood and the existence of first love for naïve fifteen year old Edie.

Sexuality, desire and longing are all words that express Kate Chopin’s “The Storm.” Love did not make an appearance in this short story. Instead, the reigning participate was lust. Chopin’s carefree treatment of sex is daring and impulsive, two lovers tangled in each other’s arms, indifferent about the consequences, instead relishing in each other’s warmth and passion just for that moment. “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,” as cited in “The Storm,” foreshadows a nearing moment of passion and intimacy for Calixta and Alce. There is no existence of love here, from what can be gathered from the story is that Calixta finds sex with Alce more gratifying than with her husband. The symbolism of the storm arriving

and departing is a powerful piece of symbolism that further enhances the theme of desire. “They did not heed the crashing torrents, and the roar of the elements made her laugh as she lay in his arms,” broadcasts the ongoing ecstasy of Calixta and Alce. “The growl of the thunder was distant and passing away,” as the impulsiveness of how they reach for each other comes to an end, so does the storm. “The storm was over; the sun was turning the glistening green world into a palace of gems,” this vivid imagery educates us on the minimal damage the storm has caused the town, instead the passing of it making it more beautiful than before. This could also explain the affair between Calixta and Alce. A fleeting occurrence that left both individuals encased with happiness and a sense of joy, causing no harm to others. “Calixta, on the gallery, watched Alce ride away. He turned and smiled at her with a beaming face; and she lifted her pretty chin in the air and laughed aloud,”