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Theme Of Irony In Desiree's Baby

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Desiree’s Baby is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s Baby” takes place before the Civil War in a time when black people were neglected and mistreated by the whites. Desiree was abandoned and left behind by her parents when she was a toddler by a big stone pillar. She was found and declared adopted by Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Armand a man that was really harsh to blacks falls in love with Desiree and gets married with her without knowing anything about her ancestry. They end up having a kid but the boy turns out to be not white. Armand angry and upset kicks out both Desiree and her baby because of her mixed race. That night, Armand burns all of Desiree’s possessions. While doing this, he finds a letter that his mother wrote to his …show more content…

Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts ( Glossary...Pg 1). The greatest example of irony happens when it turns out Armand is the one that comes from black heritage. He learns this when he “finds a letter from his mom to his father explaining how he is black” turning the main plot of this story around (Chopin...Pg 5) Throughout the discovery of his son not being white, he blames Desiree for being the cause of the problem. He won’t speak out of the discovery of him being the one with black heritage because it is unacceptable to his family. He is insensitive and would rather harm his own family (Gradesaver.com...1) Another example of irony occurs in the way that Madame Valmonde didn 't have a child of herself and one day while her husband was riding he comes upon a child just asleep next to a stone pillar (Chopin...Pg. 1) The family adopted the girl that had no family. “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” (Chopin...Pg. 1) To wind up my essay. “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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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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In Desirée’s Baby, Desirée has a child, and as the child grows, Desirée notices a change in her baby that changes her entire life. She was watching her baby one day when she noticed that her baby was not of pure caucasian descent and, “the blood turned like

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Finally, the short story ended with the words from his mother’s letter that told us that he was part black. His baby was a different color because of him not because of Desiree. Armand, had not wanted Desiree because of the thought that she was the reason why his child was a different color. The ending of the book leaves one’s thinking how they ended up after the letter. Chopin, wanted the reader to feel exactly how she felt about people being so racist.

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I cannot be so unhappy and live” (Chopin 234). The significance that her life has a white lady instantaneously is gone by the nature of racism, as Desiree may be considered a black lady. Desiree is really tortured by this rumor because she knows the hardships that women go through that are considered black, “the condition of being black and female is much more debilitating than that of being black and male”

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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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Chopin uses symbolism to show Desiree’s race by stating, “The young mother was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch.” The way Chopin illustrates Desiree’s clothing leaves readers thinking of her as pure. For Desiree to represent as ‘clean,’ leaves Armand having to be mixed. When Armand plays innocent and acts harshly towards Desiree, Desiree compares her skin to his. In the story, Desiree gets frustrated because she knows she embellished white by stating, “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white!

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She wrote, “ 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 brand of slavery”, revealing the truth that Desiree is not black. Ironic that Armand destroyed her life also ruined his as well because he lost his wife, baby, and lost his self-image claiming he had one of the best names

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Analysis of Symbolism in Desiree’s Baby Set in antebellum Louisiana, Desiree’s Baby tells the story of a couple and how a relationship went south very quickly. Desiree’s Baby gives the reader an idea of how women were treated in the 1850’s and touches on the treatment of slaves Pre-Civil War. In this analysis of Kate Chopin’s, Desiree’s Baby, the symbolism of the treatment of the slaves, the deserted field, and the bonfire all signify more than they let on in the story.

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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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Strategically placing round and flat characters throughout the story, her characters help to further emphasize the theme and plot in “Desiree’s Baby.” Characterization is most evident in the characters of Desiree (protagonist) and Armand Aubigny (Antagonist.) Desiree is first described in paragraph one, “it made [Madame Valmonde] laugh to think of Desiree as a baby” (Chopin 1). Obviously, since Desiree is the character having a baby, as described in the title, Desiree must undergo certain changes to get to the character she is now.

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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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Kate Chopin wrote about subjects that took place during her lifetime. Many of them still are a part of United States today. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Chopin offers a review of how other’s attitudes affected the racial prejudice in the South. In addition, Chopin likes to explore the status of both those without a family and those of biracial families. Desiree is unlucky enough to end up on the wrong side of both characteristics.

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He hardly knew Desiree, yet he married her anyway and had a son. Another literary device that is used in “Desiree’s Baby” is situational and dramatic irony. For example, like Jeniffer Smith states in Short Stories for Students that “ Several critics of “Desiree’s Baby” have charged that the ending is a trick ending, or an O. Henry ending, so-named after the short story writer famous for the reversals that came at the end of his stories”(Smith 73). Chopin is well known for using these endings in her stories. Just like in the “Story of an Hour” Chopin uses situational irony to keep the reader entertained and to shock the reader in the end.

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