To many people, storms brewing in the horizon seem like an omen or despair, a foretelling of bad or evil things coming, or sometimes even associated with death and dying. We have sayings about them such as "when it rains it pours". Storms invariably wind up in horror movies and old dramas. In movies and books we often see or read of a storm during a funeral. In Kate Chopin's short story "The Storm" it is used as an omen, as well as perhaps despair, but it adds a different element to this story as well; it seems to be a force, perhaps destiny, perhaps a life in itself. .
As we are introduced into the story, we meet a man and his son apparently on an errand at the local grocers. From a still calm they feel an approaching storm even before they see it, and choose to stay inside the grocers instead of trying to weather the storm all the way home. The father and son speak their concerns for the mothers safety and well being with the storm approaching. Kate Chopin describes the forthcoming storm as "sinister"(139). .
The story then switches to the mother, at home sewing and doing chores, with no knowledge of the storm, and feeling no uneasiness for her husband or son. Not until it was growing dark did she realize it was there. As she goes outside to retrieve the laundry, she notices a man coming in her gate, a man she has not seen since her marriage, and as she notices him, the storm breaks open, and the rains begin to fall. This familiar man asks if he may take refuge from the storm on her porch, and she invites him into her home. He makes move to remain on the porch, when the storm begins to place driving sheets of rain onto it, forcing him into the house. It seems as if this storm has intentions and interests at stake and is forcing the man inside perhaps against his own better judgment. As she goes to the window to view the storm, she realizes it has made it impossible to see the other cabins, as if the storm is using its force to procure privacy for the two old friends.