Alcee Laballiere is a male upper-class Creole. He becomes betrothed to his cousin Clarisse. He actually likes Calixta, a beautiful lower-class Cajun. However, he cannot/will not marry beneath his class. Bobinot is a lower-class Cajun male and becomes betrothed to Calixta. When a hurricane devastates Alcee’s rice crops, he takes off to the Acadian Ball, seeking mischief. Clarisse sees him go and follows. At the ball Alcee flirts with Calixta. Clarisse shows up and convinces Alcee to come home. Dismayed, Calixta resigns herself to marrying Bobinot. Alcee is jubilant when Clarisse tells him that she loves him and they are to be married.
Alcee Laballiere comes from a wealthy plantation-owning family. Chopin portrays his upper-class upbringing through his polished, dignified speech. He gambles and plants mostly rice, which is destroyed by a storm. He then gets drunk and goes to the Acadian Ball seeking mischief, namely the comfort of Calixta.
Calixta comes from a lower-class Cajun family. She is described as the most beautiful woman at the ball, despite her simple wardrobe. She falls for Alcee, but their class differences make it taboo for them to marry. In the end she ends up settling for Bobinot.
Bobinot is another member of the lower class. He is somewhat of a simpleton, shown by his heavily accented, simplistic speech. He is captivated by Calixta's beauty from the beginning and pursues her tirelessly.
Clarisse is Alcee's cousin. She doesn't seem to realize her feelings for Alcee until she learns he is interested in Calixta.
As is typical of 'local color' stories of the period, the conflict in this story is primarily internal to the characters. Alcee is conflicted by his sexual attraction to Calixta and society's disapproval of inter-class relations. The hurricane that destroys much of his crop can be seen as a sub-conflict.
A theme of the story is feminism. Chopin is trying to tell women to take control of their lives, just like Clarisse does and Calixta fails to do (she resigns herself to marrying Bobinot, instead of following her heart and fighting for Alcee). Another theme of the story is the inter-mingling of classes. Chopin seems to be trying to break down social strata, encouraged by the flirtation between Alcee and Calixta.
Setting:
The story takes place in the culturally-rich Louisiana.
http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared//thumb/2/24/Louisiana_regions_map.png/300px-Louisiana_regions_map.png
http://www.civilwaralbum.com/louisiana/images/plantation2.jpg
Further Reading:
