Desiree’s Baby: Prejudiced Criticism of the One-Drop Rule

In her short story named “Désirée’s Baby”, Kate Chopin gives readers an inside view of the concept of race in the pre-Civil War era of Louisiana. Chopin’s protagonist, Désirée, clashes with societal standards because of her mixed-race child and unknown racial origins. Race becomes a major conflict throughout the story and drives Désirée’s husband to blame her for the child. The ironic ending of the story not only gives a surprising twist but also makes a stand against the concept of biological race. While the racial issues of “Désirée’s Baby” were set in the past, these social concepts still occur today in the modern era.

In “Desiree Baby”, author, Chopin emphasizes racism by selecting certain words to symbolize the association between light and darkness, and the slaves on the plantation.

The article criticizes Armand’s behavior in the story “Desiree’s Baby.” Armand is describe as a cruel master of slaves. Due to the importance of his tittle, Armand has a reputation to maintain. The article emphasizes the pressure that Armand had for upholding his position. Even though, Chopin gives clues about his past, the end of the story is a complete surprise for the reader. Also, the article questions the possibility of Armand knowing about his heritage due to the fact that he was eight years old when his mother died. The author justifies his actions by stating that they were a result of the “nineteenth century racism.” In the following article a better

In late 19th century Louisiana, sexism and racism are highly prevalent in society. An orphaned child, Desiree, falls in love with Armand who is the owner of a plantation. After they marry, Desiree gives birth to a boy who will carry on Armand’s name. When it shows that the boy has dark skin, Armand’s pride hinders his love for his family. Kate Chopin displays the theme of pride through the use of color, conflict and imagery in her short story “Desiree’s Baby”.

In Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin shows how over valuing of white race and status can destroy a relationship and a family. Race and status are intangible ideas humans make up to segregate one another and should not be valued higher than a human life, but this is not the case in "Desiree’s Baby.”

The story Desiree’s Baby is about a young woman who is adopted by a two wealthy french creoles that live in Louisiana. Monsieur and Madame Valmonde adopted Desiree when she was found as a young infant by a pillar near the gate of their estate. The story then follows Desiree as she matures into a young woman and is married to a man named Armand whom which she loves very much. Armand and desiree soon have a child and both are extremely happy about the child but Armand soon pulls away both his compassion and happiness when he see’s something wrong with the child. Armand realises that the child is has some black in it, which happens to be the skin color of slavery. Shamed Armand blames Desiree for his child being part black seeing that Desiree’s

In the short story, “Desiree’s Baby” one can observe many themes. The theme this section will focus on will be racism. Racism can be widely noticed in many novels, narratives, short

Chopin Shows that back then race was everything. It meant so much that people would consider you subhuman or worthless if u had any in your blood line, it also ruined relationships and caused the feeling of disgrace. Armand took this serious he was the typical stereotype. Armand was the master of the L'Abri plantation; he was a strict master who treated the slaves cruel. So much that, the narrator says, “The negroes had forgotten how to be gay.” So you can imagine the thought of him finding out his child was of color. When he found out all hell broke loose. He wanted no parts of Desiree or the baby after finding out. He even said it was Desiree’s fault because she has some Negro blood in her. Desiree’s reaction was priceless instead of fighting for her baby and herself; she just felt disgrace and couldn’t believe she would have some Negro blood in her. She even says it’s a lie, gives her whole

The short story, "Desiree's Baby", written by Kate Chopin, set in Louisiana's 1892 slave era, was influenced by the irony of love and prejudices. In the story, Chopin depicts how racial bias overthrows the love a man had for his wife and child. An analysis of the story proves the irony by illustrating judgment on appearances, through racism, and self-destruction.

The problem of being a mixed race is the highlight of authors Victor Séjour and Kate Chopin in their narratives “The Mulatto” and “.Désirée 's Baby”. Both writers portray a character who struggles with their roots and societal pressure to conform to what society views as right and wrong. Beginning with “The Mulatto” by Victor Séjour, the author tells a story within a story of a former slave named Georges. In this narrative, Séjour mentions several different aspects a slave, in particular a mulatto, encounters, including issues of broken families, the denial of human affection, double relation of father and master, and hatred. Kate Chopin

Throughout this story, Chopin makes the reader aware of how mean, rude, and nasty Armand is. For example Chopin states that, ”Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master’s easy going and indulgent lifetime.” From that statement, the reader can predict that Armand’s father was nothing like him. Even though his heart softened after Desiree had the baby, he still allowed his pride and prejudices rule him after the baby got older. At this time in the story Desiree’s life began to change and her world was turned upside down.

     In Kate Chopin’s short story, “Desiree’s Baby”, she demonstrates how racism played a major part in people’s lives in the 1800’s. Kate Chopin is extremely successful in getting her readers to feel disturbed by the events in the story. Through words and images, the reader feels touched by the story, either by relating to it at some points or when confronted with things we frequently decide to ignore in the world: the evil some human beings are capable of possessing.

Throughout time, humans struggled with issues of conformity and individuality. In the modern world, individuality is idealized, as it is associated with strength. Weak individuals are usually portrayed as conforming to society and having almost no personal ideas. In “Desiree’s Baby”, a short story, the author Kate Chopin deals with the struggles of African descendants in the French colonies during the time of slave labor. The protagonist is a white woman named Desiree who is of unknown origin and birth as she was found abandoned as an infant at an aristocrat’s doorstep. Eighteen years after her discovery, she and a fellow aristocrat, Armand Aubigny, fall in love and get married. They soon have a child, yet conflict arises when the child

Kate Chopin’s “Désirée 's Baby” was set in the days before the abolition of slavery, at a time when the ownership of another person was not only acceptable, but also economically impactful in the south. It was normal to see big plantations owned by whites and tendered by black slaves. We see all of this and more in “Désirée’s Baby”. One of the characters, Monsieur Valmonde finds an abandoned baby one day while out riding. His wife, Madam Valmonde, does not have a child of her own so she takes the baby in and names her Désirée. Madam Valmonde and her husband, Monsieur Valmonde raises the child, until she is old enough to become married. Her attractiveness and especially white skin attract Monsieur Armand Aubigny, a plantation owner, and they immediately become married and have a child. Désirée and Armand both originally associate themselves with the white class, but once the plot unveils their black heritage they are faced with uncertainty, and ultimately their lives become meaningless and not worth living. Throughout the story, Kate Chopin uses symbolism to convey her themes of racial biasness and social ladder in a society. The characters and the setting in this short story help provide the readers with more understanding of how racially charged our society was at that time.

Chopin’s characterization of Armand serves to symbolize the bigotry and racism that was prevalent during the time; furthermore, her usage of irony and symbolism highlights Armand’s superficiality and conditional love for Desiree, leading to the destruction of their marriage, yet it highlights the unconditional love that the Valmondess held for Desiree. Armand may have loved Désirée but it was strictly conditional love due to the bigotry and racism that stood in the way of their marriage; however, the Valmondess truly possessed unconditional love for Désirée. Madame Valmonde did not care if Désirée was Black, she still loved her the same. She took Désirée in despite not knowing her whereabouts and loved her as if she was her own.