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The Use Of Symbolism In 'Desiree's Baby'

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Southern authors during the Antebellum era, such as Kate Chopin, author of several southern gothic short stories, published many works that changed the common ideals of southern culture, providing many literary instances that influenced the thoughts about gender bias and racial identity. This made especially evident within Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby.” In this story, she introduces a new and nontraditional concept of thought regarding gender and race, as well as their effects on daily life during the 19th century. Kate Chopin 's "Desiree 's Baby" exhibits several crucial thematic messages, one of which ultimately proves the impact of both racial and gender identities on social judgement, made evident by her use of symbolism and irony, proving that race not only attributes to social class, but gender does as well. …show more content…

One of the main issues that Kate Chopin made evident through the plot of “Desiree’s Baby,” was that Armand treated his slaves poorly because of their race. During the story, Chopin says, “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves.” This evidence shows that not only did Armand show racism towards his child when he realized that he had mixed blood but also towards his slaves. Armand treated his slaves the same way that his dad treated them on his plantation. Another idea that makes racism evident during the first of the short story Armand spoke highly of his son and showed acts of love towards the baby and Desiree but he then slowly began to change the way that he treated his family due to the fact of him blaming Desiree for being black and giving him a mixed baby. When Desiree made it clear that she definitely did not have mixed blood, Armand basically disowns his family and makes them leave their

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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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Comparative Analysis Essay: Desiree’s Baby and Lamb To The Slaughter A close examination of the way Desiree Valmonde, the protagonist of Desiree’s Baby and Mary Maloney, the protagonist of Lamb To The Slaughter, react to their encounters with their spouses when rejected to demonstrate that both women took certain decisions against there man in reaction to the damage they caused them. In my own words Kate chopin says in her text basicly that Desiree killed herself and her baby to protect and save him from all the suffering he could go through just because of his skin color, the baby was destined to be a slave.

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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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Armand, didn’t want to accept the baby because of the color of its skin, but little did he know it was because of him. He had owned a plantation in which his own mother was from. He was a part of the people that he had owned and treated like such crap. I feel like he should have

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This meant that she had no desire to live. Many believe that she is just prolonging her agony by living, and therefore came to the conclusion that her actions were justified, and that killing herself and her baby was a valid option that makes sense. In this time period, nobody who was white wished to marry a mixed woman, or even to be around a mixed woman. Therefore, Desiree would be an outcast. Many believe that this could easily be solved if she just, perhaps, moved to the North and met new people, or reunited with Armand.

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“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree is found by the Valmonde’s family, not knowing what her origin was, they took her in. Desiree grew into a gentle and loving young woman. The young owner of the neighboring plantation, Armand Aubigny, fell in love with her at first sight. Armand Aubigny and Desiree got married and had a child together.

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“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s baby” is a story about a family in the era where the colored were neglected and treated poorly. Desiree was abandoned and left as a baby. When she was adopted she grew up in a very wealthy family. Armand and Desiree have known each other ever since they were little so when they grew up they got married.

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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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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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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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Arnold David Arnold Hensley English 11/ Fifth Period 27 February 2018 Part 12: Rough Draft #1 In Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” one will notice Chopin’s well known use of racism and local color in the story. With the story taking place in the deep South prior to the Civil War the reader will start to notice racism being incorporated into the story. Chopin uses this theme to show how crooked some people’s morals are in this time period.

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“For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere. ”(Desiree 1) By these quote the author’s description makes the characters from the story more realistics for the reader. In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin uses direct and indirect characterization to describe the character of Madame Valmonde, Desiree, and Armand Aubigny. Characterization is the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.

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