Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

“Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin is about how deep-rooted prejudices and racism affected the life of Desiree Aubigny. Desiree is the adopted daughter of the Valmonde family. Raised as if she is their own, Desiree eventually marries Armand Aubigny. After they have a child Madame Valmonde travels to L’Abri to visit the happy new family. Desiree and Armand’s once joyful relationship turns bitter and resentful months later when their child’s dark pigmentation continues to develop. Armand instantly blames the color of the baby on Desiree because of her unknown lineage. Distraught, Desiree writes to her mother who urges her and the baby to come home. Armand’s insistence that she leave, results in Desiree taking the baby and never being seen again. Later, while burning all of

Through this perspective we have the advantage of knowing what every character's perspective of the world as it correlates to how the world really is. We experience the conflict between the central character and society through third person: “she scanned the baby narrowly… it had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from far-off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming” (150-151). Through the narrator’s eyes we have a sense of the extent of the trouble caused by the pigmentation of of the baby. We see how not only society reacted, but how Armand reacted, “he absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuses,” and how these responses affected Desiree (151). “Desiree was miserable enough to die” (151). We experience the depth of the emotional turmoil Desiree encounters through the all knowing perspective of the narrator, thus emphasizing the incomplete change of Desiree into a dynamic individual. The third person point of view provides a contrast between the limited perspective of the characters and a realistic viewpoint of the