"The Storm" Kate Chopin

But Calixta is only xenophobic because she does not know for sure that her son is safe. Bobinot, of course, also misunderstands Calixta when he calls her an "overscrupulous housewife" (Chopin 130). Society's turn over of women as only appropriate for national work and Calixta's assumption of that role may have provide Bobinot's mis perceptiveness. But her decision to sleep with Alcee proves that the role of "overscrupulous housewife" is just that, a role Calixta plays rather than an unconscious expression of her personality.

Alcee's view of Calixta also demonstrates the oppressive nature of social ideas about women's sexuality, dismantle as he engages in the affair with her. During the storm, Al

Victorian society would have considered a cleaning lady who expressed sexual desire to be immoral, dangerous and unworthy of society's protection.

She would have been fair game for men with dishonorable intentions, which comes block to the assumption Alcee makes about Calixta as he kisses her. He remembers that, in Assumption, had he not fled, Calixta would have submitted to his sexual advances. Thus, she was no " innocuous" dove. It was he who had defended her from her own passion. Now, finally "her firm, elastic flesh [] was wise to(p) for the first time its birthright" (Chopin 130).

The simile Chopin uses to describe Alcee's understanding of their coming together is instructive of social views of women's sexuality during the period. Alcee sees Calixta as a woman of passion
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