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1) Identify the TRIANGLE of the 3 main CHARACTERS within this story. (Note that many ‘romances’ have a ‘love triangle’ to move the plot forward.) Describe each character briefly in a short phrase. Anchor what you say with a short QUOTE and CITE for EVIDENCE using at least 2 short quotes. Also, what is the SETTING of the story — how does the weather affect the characters? (How is the storm appropriate for the ‘romance’ element here? If you want, Google the ‘pathetic fallacy’ for two minutes — when weather reflects what the characters in a story are experiencing. Today we don’t use the pathetic fallacy in writing, but in the 19th century, it was a more widely used convention for authors like Chopin.)
2) What kind of a person is Calixta? Select a QUOTE and CITE for EVIDENCE on Chopin’s description of her early in the story. Does Kate Chopin ‘judge’ Calixta’s affair with Alcée? Why or why not? (Do you think a male writer would have treated her differently?)
3) Look at the ending of the story. Why doesn’t Calixta get upset with Bobinôt about her son Bibi getting covered in mud during the storm? Does Calixta show any sense of guilt about her affair with Alcée? How can you tell? Anchor what you say with short direct QUOTE and CITE from the story for EVIDENCE. Is this scene of the family getting back together psychologically realistic or not? (How does Chopin give clues as to what Calixta is really feeling in this scene?)
4) Challenge Questions — Look at the 2 letters that end the story. Who writes them? What do they say? Does the story imply that the affair between Calixta and Alcée might continue? What do you think? Finally, does Chopin show a ‘sophisticated’ understanding of human nature and the complex social rules between men and women of her time in the ending of this story? Again, try to use a QUOTE and CITE in your response. Finally, why couldn’t this story get published in the 1890s? What is ‘transgressive’ about the story? (What does it show about the society of its day that readers in the 19th century may not have wanted to know or realize — something that Chopin calls out in her fiction?)
