At the ’Cadian Ball

“[T]hat little Spanish Vixen. Calixta’s slender foot had never touched Cuban soil; but her mother’s had, and the Spanish was in her blood all the same. For that reason the prairie people forgave her much that they would not have overlooked in their own daughters or sisters.”

Prior to any other description of Calixta, the narrator says she is of Hispanic descent and is therefore given more leeway than other ladies of her age and status when it comes to promiscuous behavior. These social expectations, or lack thereof, are an accurate reflection of the women in Louisiana at the time of this story’s writing. Chopin establishes the inclusion of local color with this quote, going beyond the food, clothes, and culture of the Acadian region, and commenting on the social hierarchies, morals, and beliefs of its people.

“Her eyes—Bobinôt thought of her eyes, and weakened—the bluest, the drowsiest, most tantalizing that ever looked into a man’s; he thought of her flaxen hair that kinked worse than a mulatto’s close to her head; that broad, smiling mouth and tiptilted nose, that full figure; that voice like a rich contralto song, with cadences in it that must have been taught by Satan.”

As seen from Bobinôt’s perspective, Calixta’s beauty is described with a more sensual vocabulary, especially when paired with the description of Clarisse (see next quote). Emphasis is given to her physical appearance, with attention drawn to her full figure, her mouth, and the sound of her voice, but not the words that she says. Calixta’s vixen-like physical description matches her lack of decorum, which is commented on throughout the story. Bobinôt’s attraction to Calixta is clearly unrequited, which is why her beauty causes him to feel “weakened” and he compares her voice to Satan.