Desiree's Baby Essay

In the very beginning Desiree was left on a stone pillar at the Valmonde estate; it is also here that Armand Aubigny sees her and falls instantly in love with her. The stone pillar is a symbol of firm, forced male dominance in a patriarchal society. It is how men were of superior to anybody else. Desiree grew into a beautiful and gentle-hearted young woman and soon found a wealthy suitor asking for her hand. This young suitor was Armand Aubigny. He had known of Desiree’s past but was in love and did not care. Armand Aubigny’s character in this story was racist and despicable but the young bride was in love and looked past his faulty character.

One of the first notable feature in “Desiree’s Baby is the naturalistic feeling weaved throughout the entire story. Desiree a young woman is damned by her own society just because of her possible African heritage. At this time in America having one-eighth African heritage was enough to put you on the bottom of the social caste system, especially if you were a female.

In the story “Desiree’s Baby” it shows how Armand is impulsive when he fell in love with Desiree instantaneously. It was at the same pillar where Monsieur Valmonde, her adopted father, found her and her new life begun and ironically it is the same place Armand fell in love with her, signifying another

In the short story called “Desiree’s Baby” written by Kate Chopin, the author used many different literary elements to describe and build up many characters. But two of the one that stands out the most was the foreshadowing and symbolism. These elements helped to build up Desiree Valmonde, one of the main character in the short story.

Yet it is not until Armand believes that Desiree is black that he fully dominates her simply by thinking that he is superior.  At this point, “when he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out” (317).  Armand feels that he is too superior to Desiree to devote his full attention to her.  Since he no longer expresses his love for Desiree, she feels further pushed into a slave-like position in the relationship, and, “was miserable enough to die” (318).

Desiree?s words show that her life depends on the race, notions, and social class of her husband and consequently, she feels obligated to obey his every desire. Desiree is presented as vulnerable to whatever Armand wants and tells her to do when she says, ?Do you want me to go?? (177). Desiree displays through her actions that in many ways, her happiness only comes from pleasing her husband. Therefore, Desiree must decide whether to live completely separate from Armand, or to live with him in constant fear and unpleasantness. Desiree achieves personal freedom and independence from Armand when ?she disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thing along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; she did not come back again? (177). It is not even an option and is unheard of that Armand, being a male holding a respectable background, could possibly be black. Consequently, Desiree feels compelled to leave because she wants to please him. When Desiree decides to kill herself and her child, she shows that she is sensitive and vulnerable to her husband?s thoughts and actions.

In “Desiree’s Baby” the morale of the story is “we often get into trouble when we assume” (Mayer, Gary H.). The husband even though he claimed to have loved his wife rejected her in a time of need, the result of it he ends up losing his wife and son. When the

“Désirée’s Baby” is a story of love, prejudice and rejection, a story with noble beginnings that

Without racial comparisons, the story would only be a tragedy, reading as a criticism of hasty racial categorization because of the suffering it brings, but with them it is a depiction of a flawed system that has rewarded a black man. Chopin first contrasts Armand’s tendency to take on “the very spirit of Satan” in dealing with slaves with the more relaxed relationship they had with his father (441). Looking upon L’Abri, Madame Valmonde is troubled to realize that under Young Aubigny’s rule “his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master’s easy-going and indulgent lifetime” (440). Additionally, Madame Valmonde’s sadness upon seeing the estate may indicate that Monsieur Valmonde, a white man like Armand’s father, lacks young Aubigny’s cruelty. Armand’s lack of compassion is seen again upon realizing his son’s black heritage. Feeling that “Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him” by giving him a quadroon child, Armand asks Desiree and the child to leave L’Abri (442). In contrast, Monsieur Valmonde’s treatment of Desiree as “the idol of Valmonde” depicts his compassion toward a child who may potentially be black (440). Chopin’s racist undertones are realized as the dark-skinned Armand, characterized by volatility and callousness, is meant to be looked upon much less favorably than the story’s compassionate white slave owners.

Kate Chopin is a renowned author of the twentieth century. She is famous for her short stories that were written in the late 1800’s. Most of her works were published in magazines at the time but were a posthumous success because of societal dissent. The beliefs and values exhibited in her works of literature are far ahead of their time by representing women’s desire for independence from being a homemaker. One of her most popular short stories, “Desiree’s Baby,” shows how women had no choice over their own fate and were bound by the will of their husbands during Chopin’s lifetime. It was not well received by the public until years after Chopin’s death because the story draws sympathetic feelings towards the situation in which the main character Desiree finds herself in. In “Desiree’s Baby,” Chopin uses symbolism and irony to present the message of how the innocent suffer unjustly as a result of judgmental attitudes; she does this through the main characters of Armand and Desiree.

In the very beginning Desiree was left on a stone pillar at the Valmonde estate; it is also here that Armand Aubigny sees her and falls instantly in love with her. The stone pillar is a symbol of firm, forced male dominance in a patriarchal society. It is how men were of superior to anybody else. Desiree grew into a beautiful and gentle-hearted young woman and soon found a wealthy suitor asking for her hand. This young suitor was Armand Aubigny. He had known of Desiree’s past but was in love and did not care. Armand Aubigny’s character in this story was racist and despicable but the young bride was in love and looked past his faulty character.

One topic that Chopin alludes to in her story is gender inequality. Armand, the father of Desiree’s baby, cruelly states, “it means that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (pg. 75). Armand jumps to the conclusion that Desiree is responsible for their child being of color. Without any kind of justification for Armand’s statement, Desiree proceeds to justify how it could not be her fault. Even though Desiree’s points were valid, her reasoning was overshadowed by the social norms of her world, which accepted a man’s word as final, despite any logical or moral flaws. This same biased circumstances is also true punishment. Women ultimately were never considered capable of being any kind of powerful figure; and were emotionally, domestically, physically, and verbally abused day by day. Desiree was not necessarily physically abused, but she was

Kate Chopin, a short story writer with powerful feminist views wrote the story of Désirée’s Baby in 1893. She grew up in St. Louis, Louisiana and was surrounded by many Creoles, which is where the French Creoles inspiration in the story came from. In the story of Désirée’s Baby, as an infant, Désirée, was abandoned by a stone pillar and later adopted by a French couple, the Valmondé’s. Désirée later marries a plantation owner, Armand Aubigny, and bears his only son. As the child gets older by day, his complexion seems to get darker, as if he was black. Since no one knew of Désirée’s origin, Armand blamed her immediately for the child being black, assuming it could not have been him. After a heated conversation, Armand demands Désirée and her child to leave his home for good. They walk into the bayou never to be seen again, assuming they had both died. After a few weeks pass, Armand stumbles upon a letter written by his mother stating that she is of black and so is Armand. The

“Desiree’s Baby” starts with Madame Valmondé going to visit Desiree and her baby. While on the way, she recollects how Desiree was brought into the family. Madame Valmondé then explains how Desiree met her husband, Armand. Armand did not know Desiree’s exact origin, but he was so in love that it did not matter. Madame Valmondé then arrives and Desiree explains how kind Armand has become because of the child. But when the baby is three months old, Armand begins to act unsympathetic and different. One day, Desiree notices that the baby does not look fully white. She asks Armand what it means, and he accuses Desiree of not being fully white. Soon after, Desiree leaves Armand because he does not want to be with her anymore. At the end of the

“Desiree’s Baby” is a story about miscegeny in Creole Louisiana during the antebellum period. Desiree is adopted by a wealthy family and eventually marries the man of her dreams. Armand is a wealthy slave owner who falls in love with what he believes to be the woman of his dreams. Desiree and Armand are happy and have a perfect life until the birth of their son. The uncertainty regarding the ethnicity of Desiree and her son causes a great deal of pain for Desiree. The pain she endures leads to a devastating end. The character I identify with most is Desiree. I can identify with Desiree because of her vivid portrayal of love, betrayal, and racism.