Krish Pandya
Diianni
English 9
October 25th 2017
“Desiree’s Baby”
Misunderstandings can happen, Some may be minor but others can be life-changing. In Kate Chopin’s short story, Desiree’s Baby, Desiree is misunderstood because her origin is unknown, her baby’s skin is dark, and Armand accusing her of being black. Désirée Valmondé is the adopted daughter of Monsieur and Madame Valmondé; as a small baby, she was found abandoned by Monsieur Valmondé outside the gates of his estate. Beautiful and beloved by her adoptive parents, she is courted by the son of another wealthy, French Creole neighborhood family, Armand. She and Armand marry and have a baby. When the baby is born, Armand is at first delighted. However, the baby’s skin color soon shows signs of the baby being a “quadroon”—one-quarter African. Armand assumes that because of Désirée’s unknown parentage that she is part black. Désirée walks off with the baby in her arms into the bayou; they are never seen again.
The story starts out when the Valmondes find Desiree by a stone pillar abandoned, later she was adopted. Armand had been warned about Desiree’s unknown origin .“Monsieur Valmondé grew practical and wanted things well considered: that is, the girl’s obscure
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Madame Valmonde comes to visit them in L’abri when she first saw the child she was disbelief .“Yes, the child has grown, has changed” said Madame Valmondé, this shows that the baby has changed and is not of white color. Later in the story, Desiree herself starts to notice the changes. Soon word started to get out that child was not of white but rather of African descent, the rumors went through the community and the slaves gossiped about it. Everyone thought that she was the one with African American dissent, even her own mother, and her husband. Near the end of the story, Armand discovers letters from his mother that said that she was of African descent which made him