Determinism in Kate Chopin\'s \"The

Determinism in Kate Chopin's "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour"

Kate Chopin's "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour" both depict women who are in constrained social and economic circumstances. The central female protagonist of "The Storm" a Creole woman named Calixta, is in a pleasant but passionless marriage. A brief, unanticipated storm leads to an extramarital affair with Alcee Laballiere, a man who is much more attractive and dashing than Calixta's husband Bobinot. Had the storm never taken place, the affair would not have occurred, but the forces shaping Calixta's life propel her to take advantage of that opportunity. In "The Story of an Hour" Mrs. Mallard, a highly protected woman with 'heart trouble' learns of her husband's death in a railroad accident. This news makes her dream of a new, free life, away from the social constraints of being a wife. The news is accidental and inaccurate, but this chance report reveals deeper social and emotional problems within Mrs. Mallard's marriage, like the storm does in Calixta's (Chopin 1894).

The tone of "The Storm" is much lighter than "The Story of an Hour." Calixta's marriage does not seem extremely unhappy. She has a small child. But Chopin's story seems to imply that, like the heat building up in the sultry weather, Calixta's passion requires a release and a diversion. Alcee also seems to love his wife, or at least have an amicable relationship with her, based upon his correspondence at the end of the story. Just as the downpour returns the environment to a more comfortable state, the outpouring of passion of the protagonists makes their marriage bearable.

Although they both clearly desire one another, the actions of the storm seem to create a unique series of events that literally force Calixta into her lover's arms: "A bolt struck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field. It filled all visible space with a blinding glare and the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon. Calixta put her hands to her eyes, and with a cry, staggered backward. Alcee's arm encircled her, and for an instant he drew her close and spasmodically to him. The contact of her warm, palpitating body when he had unthinkingly drawn her into his arms, had aroused all the old-time infatuation and desire for her flesh" (Chopin 1889). The storm, and its frightening progression, is a deterministic natural force that enables the character's passion to be expressed, along with the heat that made Calixta loosen her gown earlier.

Another natural force is the proximity of the two lovers: Alcee lives close to his neighbor, and has a legitimate reason to be wandering by: the fact that Calixta's husband is going to gather shrimp for the family meal is another convenient accident that creates the conditions for the affair. Had there been no storm, had Calixta married a man far away from Alcee, or had Bobinot and little Bibi not been on an errand and gotten caught in the downpour and lightening, the story would have an entirely different trajectory. Even more conveniently, Alcee's wife Clarisse is away on vacation in Biloxi and is open to his suggestion that she remain away for a while longer: "The first free breath since her marriage seemed to restore the pleasant liberty of her maiden days. Devoted as she was to her husband, their intimate conjugal life was something which she was more than willing to forego for a while" (Chopin 1889). In Chopin's wording there is the implication that Clarisse is not as sexual as her husband. Still, like "The Storm" itself, the consequences of the illegitimate passion are minor: "So the storm passed and every one was happy" (Chopin 1889).

"The Story of an Hour" takes place in an urban, industrial landscape. Its plot also revolves around a deterministic twist of fate: Mr. Brently Mallard is killed in a railroad disaster. Suddenly, his wife begins to envision all of the new possibilities that have been opened up to her as an independent woman. Her grief is described as a "storm" but is one that quickly passes (Chopin 1894). In her environment, Mrs. Mallard suddenly only sees joy and hope: "the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life" (Chopin 1894) Mrs. Mallard thinks that "now her life would belong to her absolutely" (Chopin 1894). Mrs. Mallard's life has been entirely shaped by the social forces of her existence which dictate that a woman must obey her husband, and cannot live on her own independently. Her reflection that sometimes she loved her husband, and sometimes she did not and the fact that she accepts the news so readily indicates that she married Mr. Mallard more out of social obligation, and a sense that she had to do so, as a woman, than out of love. Economically, a young woman also had difficulty 'making it' on her own during the time and place where the story is set. Thus, even if 'Louise' (the reader only learns Mrs. Mallard's first name after her husband has died, as if she has suddenly acquired her old identity back) had resisted the socially deterministic pressures for a woman to marry, economically deterministic factors also made it difficult for her live an independent life.