"Thou shall not commit adultery," one of the ten commandments of the Catholic church that both Alcee and Calixta attend. But what is a person to do when there is so much desire for another person? It is presumed you follow every letter to the t, but in the moment of passion, in this case, it takes a back seat. Calixta has often been seen as a tenacious leading lady, but she succumbs to her role that society dictates, marries one person because society says so but is in love with another, becomes sexually oppressed, and finally becomes liberated and reaches her pinnacle of happiness one way or another After Alcee left with Clarisse at the ball and disregarded Calixta to ponder if they will ever be together, that was the turning point when she finally realized society would never let them be together. Alcee was a handsome young creole from the other side of the train tracks who had a plantation with nine hundred acres of rice and horses. Even with everyone in town knowing they had this chemistry for each other, they could never be. Vaguely this is where Calixta succumbs to what society dictates and asks Bobinot as they are walking home after the ball, "You been sayin' all along you want to marry me, Bobinot. Well, if you want, yet, I don't care, me." (print out) Five years later, she has a son Bibi and settles into a role as a homemaker, a predominant role for a woman in this era. Sewing and washing and most likely doing other day-to-day chores, it is more than likely she caved into what "her role" should be and not be the wild and free self we were introduced to at first. Could becoming a housewife imply that she has stopped listening to her inner self because she had been consumed by her mother and wife role and left her desires brewing inside?
Calixta had no idea the storm was sitting just outside her window when she is starting to get hot. She was stopping to wipe the sweat from her face and unbuckles the sacque at her throat, possibly foreshadowing her sexual arousal as that storm that sits just outside her window is Alcee bringing all his thunder and might with him. Calixta finally notices the storm approaching and runs outside to retrieve the clothes that were hanging outside to dry in the gallery. While outside that's when Alcee appears back in the picture, wanting to get out of the rain. With Bobinot and B...
