Everything happened because of and during the storm. Without the storm Alcee wouldn't be out to need any shelter, Calixta's son and husband wouldn't stay at the store, leaving her wife alone with Alcee.
It was a literal storm & a storm of passion. It was the storm that provokes them to have a love affair. In fact the thunder storm outside is in parallel with the beating of heart & the passion which leads to that love affair. Their passion climaxes & diminishes with the storm.
The point of view of the story is a nonparticipant narrator, third person.
The story is written from a woman's perspective, Calixta , the protagonist.
She is an unhappy & frustrated housewife. Her marriage is repressive & confining, both spiritually& sexually. Her desire was buried within her soul; she never forgot her former love. Her suppressed emotions for Alcee now aroused after the encounter between both of them. Even her fussiness rooted in her suppressed desires because after the love affair she didn't pay attention to the cleanness of her son & husband.
She valued her needs over those of her family. She was infidel to her husband although the author tries to gather sympathy from the readers for Calixta.
She is unable to fulfill society's standards of virtue; despite of the fact that Alcee knows her as a pure person, when Alcee says,"If she wasn't an immaculate dove in those days, she was still inviolate".
She knew such a physical lust is inappropriate in the eyes of society & the marriage institution. She tried to suppress her feeling "She had not seen him very often since her marriage & never alone". She knows how significantly being alone with Alcee would mean to society & especially her husband so she tries to be very formal with Alcee" Come 'long in, M'sieur Alcee".but she couldn't resist.
Her retreatment & immediately feeling concerned about her son & about their safely returning home signifying the mixed feelings of her.
Alcee is a noble person, comforting Calixta while the storm rages, not forcing the situation but waiting till her " drowsy gleam unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire" and it is also mentioned "Her defenselessness had made her defense, against which his honor forbade him to prevail". He is quick to console Calixta about her worries of the storm, although he is not exactly a family man.
Alcee and Calixta both break the social boundaries of their marriage; both have unfulfilled desires in their lives.
After their lovemaking the lovers are able to part on the best terms. They were unregretful for their actions; in contrary they both rejuvenated. When Calixta smiles at Alcee with a beaming face, indicating that their passion was natural & she experienced it without feeling of guilt & shame.
Their love affair was like a storm, calmness & relaxation is the feeling one gets after a storm has passed. At the end the characters going back to marital responsibilities, disregarding what happened.
Alcee wrote a love letter to his wife and Calixta became fresh & welcomed her son & husband warmly. Maybe the author would like to convey that they weren't dissatisfied with their spouse but they lack passion in their life so after fulfilling this need they came back happily to their life & kept this as secret, they didn't want to ruin their own marital life, and is saying that what is not revealed can do no harm!
Bobinot; He is a caring and thoughtful husband & father, because he made sure Bibi stayed clean since it was important for his mom and thought she would be worried sick because of the storm & had brought her a can of shrimps to make her feel better. But he doesn't seem to be fulfilling all of his wife's needs. There was lack of intimacy in their relationship.
Bobinot and Bibi have a friendly relationship" The father was accustomed to converse on terms of perfect equality with his little son and the boy laid his little hand on his father's knee"
All the characters are flat type because they tend to stay the same throughout the story. Bibi remained as a happy & innocent child, & Bobinot still loved & cared for his wife because he bought his wife's favorite snack at the end. Despite cheating on her husband, Calixta was still happy & loved her son & husband as she saw them getting home.
Clarisse (Alcee's wife) is looking for some kind of short escape from her marital ties. She is actually taking a vacation from her marital life.
All the characters are happy at the end.
In one sentence the storm & the affair, & the story is ended "So the storm passed and everyone was happy"
Dr. Yaghoobi
Pegah Sheibeh
Short story
