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Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin Essay

1294 Words6 Pages

Kate Chopin was an author from the nineteenth century, who is considered to be one of the great American authors. Kate created several literary masterpieces in her career, but they would not be truly appreciated until long after her death. Her work was ahead of its time, covering sensitive topics such as the roles of women within society. “Desiree’s Baby” is one of many pieces of literature that address Kate’s views on society. In this story, Chopin uses irony, symbolism, and the element of surprise to demonstrate the bias and hypocrisy of society. She uses the character Armand to show these qualities as the story unfolds. She also delves into the difference between real love and conditional love as she describes Armand's and the Valmonde’s …show more content…

Kate uses an excellent examples of irony to make this clear. Although Desiree did nothing wrong in the story, she still receives harsh treatment because of speculations of her race. The word Desiree in French means desired, but she does not feel this way as the story comes to an end. Her husband abandons his affections for her and asks her to leave his home, because he feels that she has disgraced his name by supposedly being of mixed origin. It’s ironic because her name literally means the opposite of how she was being treated. The only thing more ironic than that is the fact that she is not of mixed origin in the first place, Armand is. Of course he does not know this at the time, but Kate reveals this at the end of the story when Armand finds a letter his mother wrote stating, “I thank the good God for having arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (4). At this point, it is too late to save poor Desiree from her demise. She suffers a cruel and undeserving fate at the hands of the bias and hypocritical

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Desiree's Baby Argumentative Essay

570 Words | 3 Pages

This meant that she had no desire to live. Many believe that she is just prolonging her agony by living, and therefore came to the conclusion that her actions were justified, and that killing herself and her baby was a valid option that makes sense. In this time period, nobody who was white wished to marry a mixed woman, or even to be around a mixed woman. Therefore, Desiree would be an outcast. Many believe that this could easily be solved if she just, perhaps, moved to the North and met new people, or reunited with Armand.

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Comparing Desiree's Baby And Trifles, By Kate Chopin

1832 Words | 8 Pages

Though the narratives “Desiree’s Baby,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and “Trifles,” were written over a hundred years ago, all exquisitely demonstrate how male dominance and abuse affects the female psyche. The heroines of these narratives are used, unable to contribute in a meaningful way to their own well-being, all the while being viewed as individuals whose opinions are lackluster. The abusive manner in which they are treated by the men who supposedly love them drives them toward possible suicide, psychosis, and even murder. “Desiree’s Baby,” by Kate Chopin, is the story of Desiree, a young orphan of unknown ancestry, who married Armand, a local plantation owner. Armand is determined to marry Desiree, and declares that her ancestry is unimportant to him, “What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana”

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Foreshadowing And Allusion In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

1203 Words | 5 Pages

Desiree says good-bye to Armand and goes to the deserted field with her child and never came back. Armand was burning all of Desiree’s and the child’s materials into the bonfire. Then he found some letters from Desiree, but one was from his mother to his father, the letter said that she was grateful that Armand would never find out his mother was of slave heritage (Chopin). In “Desiree’s Baby, “ Kate Chopin uses imagery, foreshadowing and allusion to develop the ominos, mystery and sad story.

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Symbolism In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

834 Words | 4 Pages

Kate Chopin, an author during the antebellum period, discusses the importance of women throughout many of her works. During the antebellum period, women had no rights compared to men and African Americans had even less rights. Women were stereotypical supposed to stay home and care for the children. Kate Chopin viewed women differently, her works put women in a position of power, which cause great controversy during this time. Throughout the short story entitled “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin includes many examples of racial and gender bias through irony, element of surprise, and symbolism to support that Armand was unaware of his past and ethnic origin, only learning about his parentage from reading a letter discovered at the end of the story.

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Pride In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

907 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, slavery and racism play a massive role in how the characters, particularly Armand, interact with one another. In Armand’s case, he believes that he holds one of the oldest and proudest names in Louisiana, while pridefully boasting about his pure, white heritage. This pride in which he instills into himself and his family name contributes to a hatred of anyone who is colored, and it is this pride that shapes Armand into a strict and ominous slave owner. While most assume pride is expendable, Armand allows his pride to dictate his life and decisions. Chopin writes a prime example of this dictation when she explains how his pride is damaged after he is drawn into believing that Désirée is partially black.

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How Does Kate Chopin Affectionate, Sincerity, And Cruel?

619 Words | 3 Pages

Affectionate, Sincerity, and Tranquil The story of “Desiree’s Baby”, the author Kate Chopin introduced a character, Desiree, who is a loving mother and caring wife. Desiree is a woman who feels no shame or inadequacy because she was a found abandoned on the road when she was a toddler and then she was found and adopted by the Valmondes. As Desiree gets older and becomes a young woman she meets a wealthy slave owner named Armand.

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Kate Chopin Foreshadow's Desiree Baby

251 Words | 2 Pages

In the fictional story,”Desiree Baby”,written by Kate Chopin, is a tale about an orphanage baby whose name was Desiree, and is her life story. From the moment Desiree got adopted (Madame Valmonde found her under the tree),to how Armond fall in love and marry Desiree; to which our problematic baby boy was born. Most of the text is about Desiree marriage life and what lead from a fairy tale marriage to a broken one. Kate Chopin Foreshadow the theme of how a person were being judge not base on them individually but their race for who they are; all the while,developing a highly mystery and interesting plot. Early in the story, the reader learn, that there maybe a problem with Desiree origin since Madame Valmonde pick her up under the tree;

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Symbolism In Desiree's Baby, By Kate Chopin

858 Words | 4 Pages

Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,”seizing his wrist. “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” she laughed hysterically.” When Desiree proves to Armand that she is white, it is easily recognized that he can not stand being defeated. When Armand reacted saying, “As white as La Blanche’s,” he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with their child.”

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Irony In Desiree's Baby Essay

839 Words | 4 Pages

She wrote, “ night and day, i thank the good god for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with brand of slavery”, revealing the truth that Desiree is not black. Ironic that Armand destroyed her life also ruined his as well because he lost his wife, baby, and lost his self-image claiming he had one of the best names

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Desiree In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

2281 Words | 10 Pages

at the age of eight Aubigny mother had died so she must have written that letter long before. He might not have remembered that well since his mother died when he was a small child, he might not have noticed what color, skin tone his mother might have had but it may be that his mother has light colored skin and was also passing a white in the society. Overall this is accurate that Desiree and her baby are victims of racism as Aubigny is trying to get rid of everything that has to do with that part that she and her child carries black heritage and does not approve of it and leads to rejecting

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Unconditional Love In Desiree's Baby

1012 Words | 5 Pages

During the era in which this short story was written, southern authors had a major influence on the way the culture was going to grow with racism, and also the way people loved each other. Kate Chopin, a traditional author who believed in southern ways, exemplifies how race and the characteristics of conditional love played a role in her story. In “Desiree’s Baby,” the author, Kate Chopin, provides an illustration of conditional love exemplified by the character, Armand, towards his wife and child; furthermore, Chopin provides instances of irony, elements of surprise, foreshadowing, and symbolism to prove that Armand’s love for both of them was not the unconditional love typically felt and portrayed by women, such as Desiree, during this era. Throughout the story, the readers notice different times where Chopin uses elements of surprise. One major surprise is when Armand opens the letter from his mother and finds out that he has African American in his bloodline.

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Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

1283 Words | 6 Pages

One of the literary devices that Chopin uses is the characters. Characterization is the creation of a fictional character. The few characters that are in this story are

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Gender Symbolism In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

729 Words | 3 Pages

An analysis of Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” shows the ways in which gender inequality, class and race play a large theme in mid-nineteenth century Southern culture. The gender inequality Chopin insinuates in her story is one that women still battle today. By buying Desiree corbeille gifts and fine clothes, she is treated as a possession by Armand. He seems to believe that by gifting these items to her, he can buy her – and her love.

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Theme Of Racism In Desiree's Baby

1280 Words | 6 Pages

Arnold David Arnold Hensley English 11/ Fifth Period 27 February 2018 Part 12: Rough Draft #1 In Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” one will notice Chopin’s well known use of racism and local color in the story. With the story taking place in the deep South prior to the Civil War the reader will start to notice racism being incorporated into the story. Chopin uses this theme to show how crooked some people’s morals are in this time period.

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Figurative Language In Désirée's Baby

769 Words | 4 Pages

One of the most prevalent themes in literature and today’s society is the role that gender plays in the American family, in this case, most predominantly in the South. Most traditionalist thinkers, even today, believe that women have limited options in what they can and cannot do; to some, it is truly a “man’s world.” While written in the late 1800’s, Kate Chopin’s short story “Désirée’s Baby” contains topics of gender roles in the Southern Antebellum period that have remained relevant worldwide throughout the years. Chopin uses foreshadowing, irony, the element of surprise, and figurative language to portray the traditional gender roles for women in the seventeenth century; she also uses characterization to show the pride Armand had in himself, such as his white, male stature, which caused him to believe that he was never at fault.

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