Discrimination In Desiree's Baby

Racial discrimination is a common act seen throughout many short stories; old and new. Kate Chopin wrote "Desiree's baby" within a heavily segregated time and location, which played a major role in the development of one of her themes, that is; betrayal. "Desiree's baby" took place in Creole, Louisiana: a well-known area of the Antebellum South where miscegenation was largely criticized, and was written during the mid-nineteenth century, prior to the American civil war. This short story is a primary example of how segregation can lead to the abandonment of loved ones. Chopin portrays the effect of racial prejudice through Desiree, Armand, and their child; for they all experience betrayal and brokenness as a result of the racial indifferences

The first thing we learn about Desiree, is that she was found alone by a stone pillar of a gated community. A Stone pillar and gated housing are both signs of large sums of money. Chopin delivers a sense of betrayal when she writes, Desiree was left here to fend for herself as a young child. She was later found by a man, who we know as, Monsieur Valmondé. He picked her up and took her home to his wife. While there were many speculations about the delivery of this little girl, "The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Maïs kept, just below the plantation" (Chopin 270). Could it be that this little girl's skin was of color, yet she possessed such fair skin that her family abandoned her strategically by leaving her in a heavily white represented area for her own benefit? Despite the many assumptions, Madame Valmondé only chose to believe that Desireé was sent to her by a Providence to be her child of affection. Although she was abandonded as a young girl, these two raised Desireé to be she a young lady of beauty, affection, sincerity and