Setting

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Storm” was written in 1898, and the setting is meant to be read as contemporary to this time. This is indicated, for example, by Calixta’s dress – a “white sacque” (l. 20), most likely referring to a sacque dress, an informal house dress which was popular in the 18th and 19th century.

Physical setting

The story takes place in an unnamed town, most likely located in southern Louisiana. This is indicated by Calixta’s language, a mix of French and English, which shows that she is a descendant of French settlers in Louisiana.

In the first part of the story, we learn that Bibi and Bobinôt are at Friedheimer’s store (ll. 4-5), where the two wait out the storm sitting on two empty kegs (ll. 5-6).

The most important setting is Calixta and Bobinôt’s home. Here, Calixta and an old lover, Alcée Laballière, are trapped by the storm, which creates the circumstances of their affair.

Calixta’s home is described briefly: it has a “small front gallery” (l. 23), where Calixta hangs Bobinôt’s clothes to dry. Alcée and Calixta enter the house and sit “in the dining room the sitting room the general utility room” (ll. 45-46). The fact that the dining room is used for multiple purposes indicates that the house is probably small. Next to the dining room, there is Calixta’s bedroom – “with its white, monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious.” (ll. 47-48). Later in the story, the room and the bed are referenced again: “She was a revelation in the dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon.” (ll. 86-87). The bedroom takes on a symbolic role as a place of mystery and uncertainty, but which is then transformed into a place of “revelation” by Calixta and Alcée’s love-making. After the affair takes place, Calixta and her family sit around the table (l. 128) and lau...