The Storm

In Chopin's The Storm, a Louisiana woman and man face secret lives and difficult choices. Chopin really is rather racy, but I think the way the plot was mapped and the dialogue made it easier to read. I think if she didn't force you to hear the way they talk and feel the underlying feelings, you would automatically judge Calixta for her indiscretion. With the complete difference in dialect and setting (warm and muggy with "missing" letters compared to freezing cold and emphasis on vowels), Calixta is really just realizing how much she missed her first love, maybe even her true one.
I think it is also important that the rising action of the storm correlates with the rising action between Calixta and Alcee. As the storm gathers, their paths cross, and it becomes a dance of social formality with underlying passion as they remember old times together. The adulterous affair occurs as the storm breaks itself upon them, and she and Alcee wave goodbye as it clears, leaving the world a "sparkling gem". The falling action matches both Alcee's and Calixta's plot and the storm's as well. Marriage is hard, according to my parents, and sometimes it's nice to have a break. The ending, that "so the storm passed and everyone was happy", means to me that maybe not everything was well in Alcee's or Calixta's marriage. There is a possibility that the characters lost some of their identity when they got married, and they missed that part of life. Maybe now that they had this chance at feeling young and independent again, their marriages may be better. Calixta did seem to greet her husband warmly, and even Mrs. Laballiere appreciated her independence. This may tie back to Story of an Hour and Chopin's own life, where civil law in Louisiana made women property of men. Maybe this story isn't necessarily about an affair or the benefit of staying away a little longer, but about how women sought independence by secretly defying their husbands.