Negative Consequences of Learning the Truth, in Hawthorn’s Young Goodman Brown and Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby

Faith attempts to hold Brown back from his journey, yet for reasons unknown, he insists upon going. As Young Goodman Brown embarks on a journey into the forest without Faith, he also leaves behind his faith in society. Repeated images of the road Brown takes and the dark forest around him, add to the allegory. “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind. It was all as lonely as could be, and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead, so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.” (Hawthorne 198). As Brown wanders down the dark foreboding path that closes behind him, the potential for spiritual danger arises, foreshadowing the loss of his spiritual faith.

When Brown finally reaches the meeting of the townspeople, his hope rises again because his wife Faith, whom he expects to see is not there. However, she soon unfortunately joins him and the others whom are about to undergo initiation. They are the “only pair, as it seemed who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness in the dark world” (Hawthorne). They stare at each other in frightened anticipation, and for the last time Brown calls out for help: “Faith! Faith!...Look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one” (Hawthorne). But “whether Faith obeyed he knew

In “Desiree Baby” Chopin shows how one skin color defines social class, and determines the value and identity of another (Cummings).For the majority of the story, Armand is clearly looked upon as a white male of class and wealth, until the end of the story. He owns land in L’ Abri, and he has a plantation full of African Americans working for him as slaves. Armand have slaves to do his work for him. He also expresses an individual class between the races of the slaves. The lighter slaves worked inside with his

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

Once Brown is deep into the forest, he is surrounded by people from his town acting wicked and sinful, people who he had always assumed were noble and righteous. As he is led to the altar to be received into this association of evil, he is joined by his wife, Faith. Brown cannot believe his religious and heavenly wife is there. She represents what is good to him, and he cries to her to look heavenward and save herself. But

Desiree’s decision to take the life of her child and her own is motivated by a desire to protect her son from the situation he has been born into and her own somewhat selfish inability to envision a new life. Desiree had an outlet from the hellish atmosphere on the plantation in the form of her loving mother, Madame Valmonde, who offered asylum and support in a letter that instructs Desiree to return home with her son (Chopin 418). She chose to ignore this olive branch because it simply did not compute with her that a life existed outside of her marriage with Armand and thus she chose death for both herself and her child (Korb). Desiree’s demise is rooted in the fact that her unknown familial ties made her completely helpless and unable to provide proof that she was indeed not a part of the African American race further illustrating the power of familial status that existed at the time and its ruthlessness towards those who were considered lowly people.

These insights are on the topic of Chopin’s view of feminism. Chopin portrays Desiree as a very virtuous and woman. However, Armand Aubigny is portrayed as an individual to be feared and not a very likeable character in general. Armand falsely accused Desiree for the blackness in their baby, as he knows well that he “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin 632). In the heated argument between Armand and Desiree, Desiree pleads to Armand that she is not black and is white to which Armand rudely responds “As white as La Blanche’s” (Chopin 631). Furthermore, Chopin’s portrayal of the other women is positive with no glaring character flaws in Mme. Valmondé and Armand’s mother. Valmondé is described as a loving mother to the orphaned Desiree. Furthermore, her loving attributes are highlighted as she asks Desiree to return home. Overall, in “Desiree’s Baby”, the description of the female is much more positive than that of the male as portrays the respectable characters of Desiree and Aubigny who are contrasted with despicable characters like Armand.

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).

when she is recovering from giving birth to her child and she is “in her soft white muslins”, that is an example of symbolism being used to represent Desiree as white and pure. In the other hand Armand is mostly compared to the darkness and obscurity such as when Desiree is describing her love for Armand and then it is stated, “Armand’s dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her” (Chopin 2). “In certain ways, Desiree’s baby is atypical of Chopin's body of work; it is the only story to concern miscegenation; it is the only story to feature a stereotypically "cruel" Southern master; it does not explore issues of female sexuality” (Korb 1). When Desiree notices that her baby resembled one

When Brown calls out to his wife, this causes a turn of events. “Faith! Faith … Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!” (Hawthorn, 1835). He is suddenly in solitude, the branch that was once ablaze was now covered in morning dew. This further solidifies that this is a test faith, that only his faith was what saved him from the harrowing dream, and what woke him from his slumber. However, he is not completely saved as he had completely changed, he had turned into a “darkly meditative, distrustful … Desperate man” (Hawthorn, 1835), who did not have a eulogy or kind word carved upon his

Chopin has Armand display affection toward Desiree and he offers her his family name: “What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?” This contrasts Armand’s later behavior in the story but also underscores his pride towards his family name. Desiree also expresses doubt upon Armand’s love for their child. When talking to her mother Desiree says, “Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish […] chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not, —that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it isn’t true I know he says that to please me” (Chopin). Armand would not care for the child if it does not carry on the family name, bringing to light his true colors. By showing these character’s prideful behavior, Poe and Chopin lead us into to showing how their behavior affects their fates.

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.

However, three months later, it was brought to his their attention that the baby was not entirely white, which resulted in Armand’s complete ignorance of Desiree because, “... he no longer loved her, because of the… injury she had brought upon his home and his name,”(Chopin 3). Slaves and anyone with slavery in their bloodline, were looked down upon, Armand could not have Desiree taint his name any longer and in the end told her to leave. Even Desiree, who still desperately loved Armand, could not fathom being anything but white, as she knew what that meant for her and her baby. In the end, Desiree was not able to achieve the American Dream because she

In the short story, "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Goodman Brown takes a walk in the woods, and after conversing with "the devil," he falls asleep. He is confronted with a dream of wickedness involving many people from his church congregation and daily life. Brown struggles with turning his back on his faith and everyone he knows and cherishes. The Misfit, from "A Good Man is Hard to Find," understands the struggles Brown is experiencing as he endures his own questions of faith and Jesus while talking with the grandmother. In the midst of Brown 's dream, he witnesses what seems to be his wife 's death and that pain from her death overtakes him as guilt because he promises her safety while he is gone. The author signifies

From this, the reader understands that Armand is attempting to assume a persona of the powerful aristocratic slave-owner. However, in this attempt, Armand demonstrates his very weakness: he is insecure and so must prove his strength. Another example of Armand’s weakness lies in his attempt to destroy all evidence relating to his relationship with Desiree. Armand feels that a marriage to a potentially black woman could be damaging to his to his place in society so he burns all of the evidence of her presence in his life: “In the centre of the smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire, “ (Chopin 13). Although it is true that during the setting of the story, such a marriage could have been damaging, if he truly were a strong character, he would have defended his own beliefs and maintained his marriage. A final example of Armand’s weakness is in his discovery of a letter from his mother to his father and the reactions implied by the author. The letter carries details about Armand’s own race and how he is actually black. Armand’s implied reactions are that he will in fact take no action: despite the fact that Desiree was not of African descent, she will live her life in the belief that she is. This is the ultimate example of Armand’s weakness as he is too fearful of establishing his own identity to truly do so. Armand has been shown to be a weak, socially malleable character because of his internal