Domination Of Culture : Kate Upton

In contrast, the grandmother states that the blacks did not have things like the whites do (p.2118), putting the blacks down infront of her grandchildren, associating the blacks with poverty. We see how the grandmother fails to treat the blacks equally as human, solely because of their social status, as she perceives them merely as an inanimate object - a picture.

Practically everyone in the story has a hidden agenda for his or her actions. The protagonist, a 22-year-old named Helga, was a teacher at an institute of higher learning called Naxos where the true agenda was not education but instead was teaching Blacks their accepted status in life—lower than that of Whites. She became convinced that she needed to leave Naxos after hearing a speech from a visiting white preacher whose remarks she found offensive. The preacher stated that if everyone acted like those from Naxos “there would be no race problem, because Naxos Negros knew what was expected of them” because they “knew enough to stay in their places” (Larsen 1724). At the beginning of the story, the reader would feel sympathy towards the workers at Naxos, who truly believed they were preparing the students for better lives and sympathy for Helga who tried to convince the new principle, Dr. Anderson, as to the true state of affairs. Helga failed to realize, however, that Dr. Anderson was aware of the situation at Naxos but felt that for change to occur there needed to be “more people like you, people with a sense of values, and proportion, an appreciation of the rarer things of life” (Larsen 1735). Helga mistakenly became offended at Dr. Anderson’s compliment by calling her “a lady” with “dignity and breeding” because of her belief that being able to trace one’s ancestry was more important that one’s actions (Larsen 1735).

And my skin is fair,” (424). Désirée’s reactions to the realization of her baby’s mixed-race and the accusation of not being fully white are due to the way race was defined in pre-Civil War Louisiana. Throughout the story, race is defined solely by skin color and those that were not purely white were ridiculed, shamed, abused and treated the same as African-American slaves. Désirée, Madame Valmonde, and Armand were distressed upon knowing the baby’s mixed-race heritage because of the social impact it would have on their lives.

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

Racism between the cotton pickers and Armand was clearly present. The slave of darker pigmentation was outside working in the field. Zandrine and La Blanche’s son had a light complexion and were allowed to do work in the home. Armand treatment of the slaves indicated that he look at them more as a possession than black human beings (Cummings). Armand conviction of Desiree race was racist. Armand went to the extremes of abandoning his wife and child conveys acts of racial discrimination towards the blacks.

In the time period that this story was written, a person’s background meant something as a name was a sense of wealth and worth. Since Desiree was adopted, her background was unknown and when Armand decided to marry Desiree he didn’t care because he would give her his name as all he cared about was his affection for her. For a little while all was well in the household. Desiree and Armand were happier than ever, and Armand treated his slaves better. This soon took a drastic turn as everyone noticed that their son had begun to show qualities of a Negro. Once these features were noticed, Armand’s attitude towards his wife and his slaves changed for the worst. In Armand’s eyes Desiree was at fault for giving the child those features since her history was unknown. Even after Desiree gives her husband evidence that she may not be a carrier, she and her child are still banished from the home and sent on their way.

Love is blind and it can take over your mind. Desiree husband, Armand, was a plantation owner and he made sure that African Americans were never happy again. However, after his beloved wife had his first son he begins to go blind mentally. He did not really care about what the slaves were doing or saying, instead he focused on his pride; his wife and son. He was possessed with happiness. You would think that love overpowers everything but when it comes in battle with racism, racism prevailed. The book itself holds so much racism. For example, when it states “ the yellow- nurse woman,” meaning, she is a woman who is mixed with African American and Caucasian. The term “yellow-nurse” was a way of saying a light skin African American. They may not have taken offense then but now, when calling someone”yellow” it is a racist stereotype towards Asians or Latin people.

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.

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).

(176). It becomes apparent that Armand?s actions and words greatly affect Desiree when she says, ?My mother, they tell me I am not white? (176). Desiree?s powerless situation can in many ways be blamed for her unresolved uncertainty about her racial identity.

According Hodes in “White Women, Black Men, and Adultery in the Antebellum South,” the relationship between white women and black men becomes a source of gossip. Dorothea has a mixed race child with her cheat lovers called Edmond. Her husband, Lewis, responsible for any financial needed for that child, and try to get divorce from her. However, the court decide that Lewis at the fault. Dorothea lives also miserable as the society does not accept her child, husband, and even herself. She becomes the source of gossip and she also get abuse by Lewis and Edmond. This miserable does not just end in her married life, but this also will haunted her after she divorce and leave the black man.

Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.

“Desiree’s Baby” illustrates the situation of slaves during the late 1800s. Judging by the way Armand treated his slaves, it is clear to see that these slaves were seen below the rest of society, and having ancestry of a slave was looked down upon. On page 139, the story states, “’Shall I go, Armand?’ she asked in tones sharp with agonized suspense. ’Yes, go. ‘Do you want me to go? ‘Yes, I want you to go.’” Armand was willing to let go of his wife, the mother of his child, just because there was a possibility of Desiree being biracial. Slavery has since been abolished, so it would be to a student’s benefit to understand the relations between slaves and Caucasians at the time.

“Desiree’s Baby” provides insight into the application of the hypodescent rule in plantation-era Louisiana, depicting individuals of mixed race who are marked and assigned to the subordinate social group. In her short story, “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin addresses the practice as it was applied to the “one-drop rule,” the notion that an individual with white complexion may be deemed black by society given the presence of any African ancestry. Desiree, the story’s protagonist, is eloquently placed at the intersection of the two races, victimized in order to highlight the flaws and inadequacies of the rule. Desiree’s ultimate removal from white society and possible death may indicate a text working to criticize racial prejudice; however,

Moreover, when Aubigny knows about his child, his manner toward Desiree changes dramatically; `when he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse.' Desiree dares not ask him about this change because she fears his anger. He should have thought of her questioning him, later on, about the baby being colored or not; his blind irrationality precludes him from taking assimilating that if his wife hadn't been white, she would not have asked him about the child. If anyone examines his behavior, they would definitely conclude that it is not the appropriate behavior toward a woman, and above all, his a devoted wife.