Desiree's Baby Essay

Throughout the story “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, Armand’s character is portrayed from many different perspectives to the readers. Everyone’s interpretation of Armand could vary based on their thoughts and opinions of what they felt took place. As Armand’s character developed the perspective of him being a loving caring husband slowly shifted to him being careless and hateful towards Desiree. The underlining reason for this was Desiree’s unknown background. Armand was quick to throw her under the bus with no second thoughts or doubts when it was Armand who was actually of black descent. The real question is, did Armand know of his background before being with Desiree? Varying on the perspective of how the reader viewed the story it could

Overall, Armand’s internalized self-hatred allowed him to deceive, manipulate, and gaslight Desiree and everyone around him. To start, Armand came off as deceitful by quickly becoming so infatuated with Desiree despite knowing her full background. He used this against her when it benefited him and it helped him not reveal his true identity. According to an article “In ‘Desiree's Baby,’ Chopin depicts Armand Aubigny as a cruel, arrogant man who, likely, would never admit he was wrong. He is merciless with his slaves and his wife, and in marrying Désirée, "he could give her one of the oldest and proudest [names] in Louisiana (241)” (Mayer 1). Armand’s ego and how he refused to be wrong in any situation. It could also show how even if Armand knew he was of black descent he would never admit it because of his pride and ego. Not only did Armand treat his slaves poorly he also turned around and did the same thing to his wife after assuming that she was of black descent. Armand’s cruelty towards the slaves and his wife can be seen as a cover for him. Acting this way portrayed him as

Without knowing Desiree’s true origins all the blame was put onto her. According to an article, “Later on, Desiree herself draws attention to her own bodily features when her husband tells her that she is not white: ‘It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! 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’ (243). Moreover, in her last confrontation with Armand, the narrator describes her as being ‘silent, white, motionless’ (243)” (Gibert 1). Desiree felt as though there was no way she could be of black descent, but Armand manipulated her to believe otherwise. Without a DNA test or any hard evidence to prove Armand’s point, he disposed of Desiree with no hesitation. This makes the readers believe as though Armand knew of his descent all along and just played it off as if it was Desiree to cover his tracks. In the end, he was successful in convincing Desiree and everyone else that she was the one that was of black descent. According to the story “But above all,’ 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 the brand of slavery” (Chopin 6). Although Armand manipulated Desiree into believing