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Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

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In Kate Chopin’s short story, “Desiree’s Baby,” her views on racism are expressed, showing that she is against the racist attitudes of the late nineteenth century. She conveys her views by using metaphors to show the evils of racism and using certain words to describe Armand. Chopin writes, “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves” (par. 17). Chopin uses the metaphor to compare Armand to Satan, portraying him as heinous for accepting racism. She implies that the treatment of the slaves is so horrid and that Armand does not realize how inhumane it is, causing his attitudes towards slaves to continue. Armand views the slaves as inferior to him, which in turn causes him to justify the way …show more content…

The tragedy in “Desiree’s Baby” would not have happened the way it did if the story had taken place today; society is more accepting of mixed individuals and there is a better understanding of genetic inheritance. According to Pew Research Center, “majorities of multiracial adults are proud of their mixed-race background” (“Multiracial in America” par. 2). Rather than trying to hide the fact that they are mixed-race, they are proud and embrace it. Today, it is common to see mixed individuals and interracial marriages. With the mindset of the twenty-first century, Armand would not react so harshly since he is the father of the baby, regardless of its race. In the story, Armand’s main concern is his name and reputation; however, in today’s society, race does not determine someone’s status. Armand is concerned about protecting his reputation, but the fact that his child has African American blood will not damage his reputation. Desiree and the child will not be ostracized for their race. Society has come a long way from slavery and African Americans are no longer seen as inferior. His pride and reputation would not be viewed negatively because of his child’s appearance; therefore, his reaction to the child and Desiree would not have resulted in a tragedy. In addition, more information about genetics is understood than ever before. According to Miko, some children resemble more of one parent than another due to dominant and recessive traits (par. 2). Parents of today’s society are more educated about the science behind physical appearances. It is known that some alleles are recessive and do not show, whereas others are dominant and therefore very prominent in a child’s features. With this knowledge, Armand would not jump to conclusions about Desiree, knowing that he could be the parent with the gene. He would

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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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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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As the child was three months old, Desiree notice a difference in Armands behaviour, he was distancing from Desiree and the child. Desiree was getting axitions and mad of what was Armand behavior thoughts her and the child. Desiree was sad and wrote to Madame Valmonde. Madame Valmonde told her to come home with her child. Desiree talks to Armand if she is allowed to go back home.

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This is shown when Armand’s mother writes, ‘“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. Par 6). This shows how Armand was racially mixed himself. Armand's mother's words show the degree to which the American racial tension has conquered even the black mind. She considers her race “cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin.

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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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“Desiree’s Baby was written by Kate Chopin and she talks about the issues people had back then with racism and gender. She demonstrated those problems by using literary devices such as symbols, conflict, and irony. I advise everyone to read this story for the fact this kind of conflict is still happening today and we need to work together for a change. Overall this was a great story and it teaches you many great lessons. Take a look

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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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If it weren’t for Armand’s racism, this story would have turned out with a much more positive ending. Because of Armand racist world views, he was unable to be a decent human and take responsibility for the child he conceived with Désirée. His racism causes him to act unkindly towards his wife, child, slaves, and I think to himself now that he knows he himself is part

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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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In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, we dive headfirst into a man who is consumed by knowledge and thrives off of it. Victor Frankenstein takes his mother's death to extremes by becoming obsessed with trying to create, or recreate life. Instead of trying to "create" life Victor's quest for knowledge could've been much better spent on research in different fields. Victor became possessed by knowledge, raising the question, is there such thing as too much knowledge?

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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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