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Desiree's Baby

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Recommended: Racism throughout history

Desiree’s Baby is a short story about Southern racism and the widespread abhorrence of miscegenation (the interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types).

The main theme of racism is integral to “Désirée’s Baby”, for it shows an illustration of Chopin’s time where African Americans were inferior to the whites.I researched the historical background of this time period and found out that this short story was published in 1892, twenty seven years after slavery was abolished, but placed in the era of slavery. Set in Louisiana, during the early 1900s on a white owned plantation. The author shows several times throughout the story, the treatment of black people and mixed heritage.In the story, Armand is portrayed as the man …show more content…

Desiree was the same person she was yesterday but for some reason, the possibility of having black heritage fills her with so much shame to the point where she writes on her letter to her mother that she cannot live, “I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live.” The mere thought of having mixed blood makes Desiree want to kill herself. I was so baffled as to why skin colour was held in such importance. I wondered.. We’re all human beings, capable of thought and loving so why is racism still prevalent? Racism is defined in the dictionary as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” Personally, as someone who has come from another country and is coloured and has faced racial discrimination, I believe that racism is unacceptable. It is just wrong. It is a sensitive and challenging issue but one which needs to be addressed by all of us if we want to live in an inclusive and loving environment. Being a good person does not depend on your religion, status in life, family name, political views

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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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The reason racism still exists is because people continue to believe that some races are better than other races: Dred Scott vs Sanford, Plessy vs Ferguson, Shelly vs Kraemer. In the Dred Scott vs Sanford case, Dred Scott and his wife sued for their freedom from slavery. They fought in an 11 year legal struggle just to be free, but lost that battle. As the case was on its way to Supreme Court it grew in significance.

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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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Years may have passed since this was written, but the hostile attitudes towards people of a different race still exist. Think about what it must feel like to have someone of a different race treating you as an invaluable human being. The fact of the matter is that people do feel this way, a lot of people. To get to the core of why racism still exist in America, we can refer back to “Brownies” and where racism is found frequently. First, we can take a look at schools.

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Prejudice not only harms those who have it, but serves as an effective hindrance to society’s advancement as a whole. In the short stories Baby in the Airmail Box by Thomas King, and The Man Doll by Susan Swan, the reader is shown great similarities on the impact of prejudice, and great contrast upon the treatment of said prejudices. These two authors help educate the reader on not only the harms of prejudice, but the consequence of inaction as well. The two stories explore prejudice in different manners, King creates a sense of satire through the comedic and exaggerated objectification of the “White baby”, whereas Swan creates a futuristic setting and uses science fiction to establish the “Dolls” as part of society. Both authors use an improbable setting for mankind to exaggerate the prejudices which

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In the short story “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, A woman named Desiree supposedly takes the life of herself and her child after “discovering” that she is biracial, and that her child is also of mixed race. Although, in the end of the story, we discover that the baby’s father, Armand, is really the biracial parent, it still seems logical to remember the story as if Desiree were biracial, since that is what both she and Armand believed, up until the very end. Many believe that Desiree’s decision to kill herself and her child was justified, because of the shame and ridicule that would come to the child, and the fact that she herself believed that neither her nor the child would have a happy future. Many believe that Desiree’s actions were justified because of the few options she seemed to have at the time, and the fact that all she could think about was how shameful she felt for being biracial, and

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Analysis of Symbolism in Desiree’s Baby Set in antebellum Louisiana, Desiree’s Baby tells the story of a couple and how a relationship went south very quickly. Desiree’s Baby gives the reader an idea of how women were treated in the 1850’s and touches on the treatment of slaves Pre-Civil War. In this analysis of Kate Chopin’s, Desiree’s Baby, the symbolism of the treatment of the slaves, the deserted field, and the bonfire all signify more than they let on in the story.

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Because the Desiree’s Adoptive parents, the Valmondes, were originally from France, Desiree could have gone to France. France has no rules against African Americans, so her baby could have had an amazing life there. Desiree had so many options about what she wanted to do with her life, and yet she chose the worst

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The well-off Armand, who once said victimized and abandoned the sweet Desiree after being convinced that Desiree was a child black people, when he himself unknowingly came from a colored mother as is revealed in the last words of the story, Immediately the audience's heart is seized with the tragic irony. The easiest response to such story is fury because in some way everyone can relate to the horror and pain of Desiree and her circumstance on a personal level. This depicts the symbolism used as is seen in all of the small details including the colors used to illustrate the house which were not random

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Desiree’s Baby is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s Baby” takes place before the Civil War in a time when black people were neglected and mistreated by the whites. Desiree was abandoned and left behind by her parents when she was a toddler by a big stone pillar. She was found and declared adopted by Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Armand a man that was really harsh to blacks falls in love with Desiree and gets married with her without knowing anything about her ancestry.

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At the beginning of “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, we see that the point of view is third person. We can determine this by asking Perrine’s question”Who tells the story?”(Arp 253). Starting with “As the day was pleasant, Madame Valmonte drove over to L’Abri to see Desiree and the baby”(Chopin), you can see that this story is a third person point of view, and that the story is being told by a narrator, rather than one of the characters listed. This same idea of a narrator can be clearly seen throughout the paper by keywords such as “...he could give her one of the oldest and proudest...”(Chopin) rather than I or we; which would indicate first person.

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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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One of the many short stories by Kate Chopin is “Desiree’s Baby.” In this story, Desiree was found as a toddler under the shadow of a stone pillar by Monsieur Valmonde. He and his wife took the child in and years later, under the same shadow of the stone pillar, Desiree met her husband, Armand Aubigny. Not long after marriage, they had a child. Soon after the baby was born, Armand uncharacteristically became nice to all around him including his slaves.

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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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