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Symbolism In Desiree's Short Stories

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After reading , it is evident that the author demonstrates how racism was a constant companion of those alive in the 1800's. The author leaves the reader with a disturbing impression as the story unfolds. Furthermore, the wonderfully crafted elements of the short story including its characters, the setting, its format, and finally its symbolism, the audience is moved emotionally, either by being confronted by their ignorance on important topics or by connecting with it on some level. The author begins this short story with pleasant images and events; she captivates the audience with certain fairy-tales. For instance, a woman who is barren is suddenly blessed with child a baby girl. This fairy-tale becomes a reality when a girl who holds …show more content…

Every reader could agree that the instance of fatherly abandonment is heartbreakingly tragic for the wife and children as well as a formidable burden to out-bare. Such actions truly depict the severely distressing disparity of human nature and how the heart of man can be as warm as a loving mother and as hateful and calloused as a disowning father. The author manifests Desiree's frailty in her dress as seen when, Chopin accentuates a dark atmosphere near the end of the story by symbolizing that rather than walking the . This final sentiment leaves the story with a forlorn and broken end a tragic finish. The reason for the audience's heartbreak is due to the sinister injustice done to such a pure and feeble character thrown to-and-fro by the whims of one man. 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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911 Words | 4 Pages

t are by them. The manner in which the protagonists responded and reacted to the heartbreak are quite dissimilar. In Chopin 's writing Desiree has a response of hopelessness as well as desperation. When Armand demands her leave from the plantation Desiree seeks her child and “disappears among the reeds and willows… and she did not come back again.” In her fit of sadness and helplessness Desiree kills herself and her son while on the contrary something 's quite different occurs in Dahl’s story.

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373 Words | 2 Pages

The reason her past is shadowed is because little is known about where she is from or who she is. So as you can see their was quite a bit of symbolism in the story and the other hand i noticed that Kate chopin used another literary Term knowns as tone. Tone is the General character or attitude of a place,piece of writing,situation the tone in this story is created through the text and drastic shift affects the readers feelings in the situation the first couple paragraph shows Desiree and Armand as happy newlyweds filled with joys with the birth of their child. When Desiree’s mother visit her she shows that she is overfilled with happiness towards her mother. The Description Details that Desiree is views her and her surroundings to be overly

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137 Words | 1 Pages

Finally, Chopin represents how women are at liberty of men through blame. At this point in the story Desiree was on the verge of realizing the truth about her baby, and therefore that was putting strain on her relationship. This strain is illustrated when the story states “He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse... Desiree was miserable enough to die.” (3).

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881 Words | 4 Pages

She leaves the room and gets her baby from the nurse and they later drowned in a bayou. Later on Armand begins burning anything of his marriage and his baby. He begins burning letters as well, and in one letter it reveals that Armand’s mother was a Black slave. Towards the end of the story Désirée begins to feel afraid of what might happen to her and the baby fearing that there was a chance that both of them were Black. Her innocence as a white person soon falls apart when Armand immediately

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697 Words | 3 Pages

This shows that Desiree’s baby uncovers the racist wickedness within Armand Aubigny. Another example is that racism was conveyed in Southern Louisiana as if one person has one drop of black blood he, or she is black. On page 2 it says “when the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace”. Therefore the author Kate Chopin’s use foreshadowing to let the reader know that Armand was a racist supremacist; using the baby from the wagon. From these examples it is clear that if a married individual

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588 Words | 3 Pages

After reading the story about Desiree's baby, I’ve noticed how bad racism was happening at the time. In the beginning of the story, it explains how a toddler was abandoned in front of a big stone house. I was thinking why she was abandoned because it’s sad growing up to remember being abandoned as a toddler. People who are abandoned struggle through their life from the past wanting to know more information of their past as they get older. A guy name Armand Aubigny fell in love with Desiree, it’s lovely to see two people fall in love happily.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

With a close examination between the two stories ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, by Roald Dahl, and ‘Desiree’s Baby’, by Kate Chopin, there will be close similarities about a once loving wife toward her husband and a once loving husband towards his wife, now with the husband showing no more interests towards the wife, leaving her in an emotional distress, causing her to act out in a very hollow manner. The similarities that both ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ and ‘Desiree’s Baby’ share, is the cause that started the twist. When the similar main female characters are cast out from their husbands, when the husband had stopped showing love to the wife. When, in ‘Desiree’s Baby’, Armand, the husband of the female protagonist, Desiree, was showing her a face of pure love, as a husband should, especially after their first child, a son, which had no name.

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182 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout history, humans have struggled with issues of racism and individuality. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin reveals the struggles of African descendants in the French colonies during the time of slave labor. Chopin portrays the ways in which the gender and economic inequalities are combined with the discriminations of the racist slave culture. The consequences of racism were the primary cause of destruction to Desiree’s family in this short story. • Chopin emphasizes racism by choosing specific words to symbolize the relationship between light and darkness and he slave on the plantation.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

In Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby,” racism begins to unfold in the life of a happily newlywed couple. Racism defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (webster,) This story is placed in Louisiana, prior to the civil war. As history comes to tell us the superior race was thought to be that of the White American in that era. Many white Americans were plantation owners who owned colored slaves.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

Armand treats Désirée very nicely through the short story by buying her lavish clothing, and supporting her financially. This exemplary treatment only occurs while Armand believes Désirée is white. However, his entire demeanor shifts the moment the baby begins to seem to have black blood. Before the joys of fatherhood Armand treated the slaves terribly, and for the first months before his baby appeared to be something other than white, Armand would not beat them. However, with his own child beginning to appear black he goes back to abusing them.

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958 Words | 4 Pages

After her husband tells her that she is black, Desiree tries to make him believe her that she is not the one who is black by making this situation sound as a joke. She described Armand her appearance- white skin, brown hair, gray eyes and fair skin. Instead of fighting for her love and a child, she tires to make a weakly funny attempt to prove herself

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1474 Words | 6 Pages

In Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby,” she uses several different themes including race and racism, love, and identity: foreshadowing, irony, flashbacks, and local color to show her readers that love can easily be used as a object and not real love. Kate Chopin shows the reader the theme of identity in “Desiree’s Baby”. In “Desiree’s Baby” Kate Chopin states, “Madame Valmonde abandoned every speculation but the one that Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the flesh. For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere, - the idol of Valmonde” (Chopin 1).

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568 Words | 3 Pages

In “ Desiree’s Baby” and “ The Story of An Hour” written by Kate Chopin the audience analyzes the themes of love and marriage presented by the author in a unique style that is different from other authors during this time period. The similarities that the two short stories address include both of the women who happen to be young wives living under a male dominated culture as well as being under the control of their husbands whom they loved. However, the themes of the two stories are different. In “Desiree’s Baby” the theme portrays cruelty that is expressed through racial prejudice as well as being “blinded” by the ones you love, as compared to “ The Story of An Hour” which gives the reader a chance to explore the issue of forbidden joy in independence, and oppressiveness in marriage.

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

Armand accuses Desiree of not being fully white. However, Armand later on finds out that it is he who has negro in his blood. Desiree finds herself relieved to find out that it was not her that had negro in her blood. Armand's false accusations towards Desiree, cause her to become insecure of who she was. Because of Desiree’s strained relationship with Armand, she has trouble identifying who she really is; Desiree’s internal conflict causes her to question her race and essentially

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

They had a child together and as the baby grew he started noticing his color and blames Desiree for coming from a mixed heritage (GradeSaver...1). In the story “Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin uses characterization, symbols, and themes to develop this short story. Characterization is the techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character (Teaching...1). For example, Armand Valmonde plays a role of Desiree’s husband that was a racist, cold hearted, hot blooded, and hot tempered(Study..1). This explains how Armand’s

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