A Storm of Passion Katie Chopin does an exemplary job expressing her characters emotions through events that are happening that are un-related to the character. I wasn’t surprised however, that Chopin chose to set her story in Louisiana, a popular setting for stories of romance and lust. Chopin does a great job associating and matching the intensity of the storm and the intensity of the subconscious passion going on between Calixta and Alcee. When Alcee first arrives, he does not intend to go in the house, but with the intensity of the Storm, whether were referring to the physical weather or whether were referring to the “storm of passion” taking place on Alcee to see his forbidden lover.
Another way that I believe she meant to tie in internal conflict was when Chopin had the Chinaberry tree struck by lightning. How does that relate back to internal conflict? Well if you didn’t know most Cajuns/Louisiana citizens are catholic, and of course a popular item in the catholic community is a rosary necklace, and a popular tradition in Louisiana is to string up their rosary with Chinaberries, instead of your regular wood or metal beads. Now with the religious tie to the Chinaberry tree, I would assume that the tree being struck in the story could resemble the immoral and “sinful” actions that are being taken by Calixta and Alcee.
The reader would like to believe that since Calixta is having an affair, it must mean that her husband isn’t very fulfilling anymore, kind of a classic theme that you see on TV in a sit-com or in our class with this author, because so far, both stories we’ve read in class by Chopin seem to support this