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Desiree's Baby Essay

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Which is more powerful: love or racism? Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby,” is excellent proof that racism can overpower love. “Desiree’s Baby” is about Armand Aubigny, a man with a proud name, who falls in love, marries, and has a child with a woman named Desiree, whose past is unknown due to being abandoned as a child. As Armand’s and Desireee’s child grows, people start to notice the child is of mixed ethnicity. Armand accuses Desiree of being part African American, which causes her to commit suicide, taking their child with her. Afterward, Armand finds a letter to his father from his mother, who died when he was a child, revealing that she was part African American. Kate Chopin used a variety of strategies to create a theme about …show more content…

The first person to recognize that the baby was not completely white was Desiree’s mother, Madame Valmondé. When she realized it, she was completely shocked and chose not to bring it to Desiree’s attention. If racial inequality was not present in this situation, “Madame Valmondé would not have kept the reality of the child’s background from Désirée despite recognizing the truth herself.” (Champlin) The next reaction we see in this narrative is Armand’s. Armand noticed and without saying anything to Desiree, started distancing himself from her and the child. When Desiree realizes this and brings it up to Armand, she is extremely confused and asks him what it means. Armand blames her and says that the only possible reason is that she must be part African American. This discovery causes Armand to tell Desiree to leave because he can not possibly love her anymore. Desiree is full of so much shame that she gets her child and disappears into the bayou. The shame of being African American and being supposedly beneath white people or having any kind of positive relationship with someone who is, caused Madame Valmonde to keep her discovery a secret, Armand to banish his love, and Desiree to take her life and her child with her. Another way that we see that being African American is shameful for some people is the way that Armand’s mother chose to hide that she is the one that is African American. She would not have chosen to do that if she thought her family would not have been thought of as less than others because of it. The idea that a person’s skin color depicts who they are as an individual can make people lie to and turn on the people they

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There could have been multiple possibilities of why the baby was not “White,” but due to Armand’s first intuition that Désirée was not white, he is showing that he has authority of the situation and that what he says goes. Because the husband and wife in both stories allow this particular type of destructive relationship, where the wife is submissive and the husband treats his wife like his own property, both stories progressively deteriorate by the

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Our heritage is recognized as one of the most defining aspects of our identity, we can either embrace it or despise it, however, our racial ancestry is recognized as being more complicated and talked about in terms of conflict. The text Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin shares a common theme with Everyday Use by Alice Walker on the issue of racial heritage and the stigma surrounding it. In Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin, the theme of racial heritage is mainly expressed through Desiree’s Husband Armand, who faces his internal conflict with his possible mixed-race background that comes into conflict with his occupation as a slave owner and his marriage with Desiree. When Armand’s suspicions of his racial background are revealed by his external conflict,

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Signifying that Armand had calmed and settled down once he meet her, he was so in love with Desiree. After a while and 3 months had passed y of the baby’s birth Armand’s attitude had changed she didn’t want to ask but it made her unhappy. Armand didn’t want his family legacy to be ruined because the baby wasn’t white which he believes Desiree wasn’t white either which isn’t the women he fell in love with. This can conclude the fact that people weren’t supportive of interracial relationships and how because of the baby’s skin color Armand’s attitude changed just cause he didn’t want his reputation to be ruined.

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Racism is a common theme throughout the short story of “Desiree’s Baby”, as the color of one’s complexion is one of the more important values of one’s life. During the story of “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree comes to the resolution that she is the one who is of black ancestry and that is where the baby’s dark skin tone comes from. As Desiree start to feel attack by everyone telling her that she is black, she strives to deny what is becoming to seem true, “you must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die.

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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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“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree is found by the Valmonde’s family, not knowing what her origin was, they took her in. Desiree grew into a gentle and loving young woman. The young owner of the neighboring plantation, Armand Aubigny, fell in love with her at first sight. Armand Aubigny and Desiree got married and had a child together.

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Desirée is a victim of both ethnic and gender discrimination because the males in her life regard her as inferior. Armand, her spouse, is initially kind and loving to her, but his attitude shifts drastically when he learns that their child is of African American ancestry. He accuses Desirée of causing the "taint" in their child's DNA and exiles her from his house. This response exemplifies the double standard that existed in American society at the time, in which women were held to different standards than males and was penalized more harshly for

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With the denial of his past and of his race, comes hatred and racism into Armand’s heart and actions. This goes hand and hand with the denial aspect with the usage of characterization from Chopin’s part. Racism ran high in most people’s characteristics of this time because Chopin put this story’s in pre-Civil War times. With the treatment of his slaves, you can really see how Armand feels about others from the race that he sees as less than, even though he is really one of them. The substandard treatment of Armand’s slaves only stops once Desiree gives birth to the baby, but when there was a chance of Desiree being of an African descent, Armand sent her and their child away without thought, saying “Yes, I want to go” with no emotion showing in his voice or actions (3).

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They end up having a kid but the boy turns out to be not white. Armand angry and upset kicks out both Desiree and her baby because of her mixed race. That night, Armand burns all of Desiree’s possessions. While doing this, he finds a letter that his mother wrote to his

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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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The irony of this short story was that it was Armand who was of mixed raced and not his wife. He was the one who tainted the baby, he found out after fining a letter from his beloved mother that was written to his father (Chopin). Irony is a surprising interesting twist at the end on a story. I am sure that after he read this letter that he soon figured out why his father was so kind to the slaves and how it was wrong of him to treat his wife the way he did and immediately regretted his choices. Thus, she was no longer there and he could not get her back, he thought she went back to live with her stepmother, and if he goes to look for her or the stepmother went to look for her and the child they would both find that Desiree never went to her original destination.

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In “Désirée’s Baby” we see racism as an over-arching theme in the short story. “Désirée’s Baby” takes place in Louisiana during the mid-nineteenth century on a plantation owned by a white man. Désirée herself is a white woman, who was abandoned as a child and raised by someone other than her biological mother. Désirée was asleep on a stone pillar, and when Armand rode by he was immediately over taken with her beauty. It was love at first sight, and the pair marry not long after.

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People who see the baby have the sense it is different. Eventually they realize that the baby 's skin is the same color as a quadroon, the baby has African ancestry. Because of Désirée 's unknown parents, Armand immediately assumes that she is part black. Désirée denies the accusation. Armand, scornful of Désirée, rejects her and insists that she leaves.

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However, the birth of his son appears to have moved him and this strictness seems to vanish instantly. During Madame Valmondé’s visit to L’Abri, Désirée explains how Armand has yet to punish a slave since the birth of their son. Along with Désirée’s testimony to Armand’s newly discovered compassion, Chopin writes that “Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature greatly” (2). The temporary joy upon the plantation soon falls to Armand’s pride and he violently returns to his imposing nature as his son’s age approaches three months; during this time his child’s skin tone darkens and it becomes apparent that the child contains mixed origins. He immediately begins to suspect Désirée, as his unwavering certainty in his heritage boosts the white pride and privilege cradled within his soul.

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As a reader, you will notice the impact racism has in the everyday life .Many decisions were impacted do to thought of blacks being inferior to whites. When reading Kate Chopin’s “ Desiree’s Baby” the reader will be introduced racism and the use of local color all throughout the story. In Kate Chopin’s “

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