The Story Of An Hour, And Desiree 's Baby Essay

Since the beginning of time, women have been treated as second class citizens. Therefore, women were forced to face many problems. Because of this women were repressed. At that time, the Napoleonic Code stated that women were controlled by their husbands and cannot freely do their own will without the authority of their husband. This paper shows how this is evident in the "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and " A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. In both stories, the use of literary elements such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and significant meaning of the titles are essential in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion.

Historically, women have been treated as second class citizens. The Napoleonic Code stated that women were controlled by their husbands and cannot freely do their own will without the authority of their husband. This paper shows how this is evident in the "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and " A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. In both stories, the use of literary elements such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and significant meaning of the titles are essential in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion.

The short stories, “The Story of An Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell compare two married women who live under the shadow of their husbands. Both of these stories were written in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries during the time when women were treated unequally. Women had limited rights. For example, they could not vote, voice their opinion or work outside the home. Glaspell and Chopin were considered feminist writers who focus their writing on the struggle of women during the time when the Women’s Suffrage Movement was beginning; these short stories reflect women’s struggles under the control of men. Married women were responsible for taking care of the household, children and wifely duties while the husbands were responsible for consistently managing the title of “the breadwinner.” Married women were expected to be discreet and obedient to their husbands, which meant that the wives could not express their opinions because of society’s expectations of women. In the short stories, “The Story of An Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Wright share a prominent similarity concerning the loss of their individual identity during marriage and realize that the death of their husbands allow them to regain their self-identity.-

How One Appears Is Not Their Fate In the story Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin, Chopin uses contrast to develop her points of inequalities and expectations. Who has these inequalities and expectations though? Everyone except for white males?

According to Teresa Gilbert, the story is not in sequential order (par. 11). Instead, the story jumps around from the present to the past, and then to the present again. This shows that structure is being used throughout “Desiree’s Baby” and it is important for readers to analyze how the structure is being used. Chopin uses structure in “Desiree’s Baby” to reveal that Desiree intertwines her identity with several characters in the story. For example, in Peel’s article, she quotes Barbara Ewell’s book, Kate Chopin, by stating that Desiree is extremely passive because she is relying on the other characters in the short story (Peel 235). Ellen Peel states that “Desiree’s individualism resembles that of other characters” (Peel 236). The title of

Armand knew about his African ancestry before he read his mother’s letter at the end of

In the short story, Desiree’s Baby, written by Kate Chopin there is a feeling of karma and consequences that is used in the story. The story gives insights to the problem of a man’s pride defeating the love he has for his wife and race, before he finds out the truth. The purpose of this essay is to examine show why Armand’s pride was bigger than the love for his wife, Desiree, what made him change and how race changed everything. The story, “Desiree’s Baby” was published during 1892.

The Antagonist in Desiree’s Baby is Armand his character feels superior and inferior. His darkness even shows when he is cruel to his own wife and child due to the baby’s skin of color. The way he also treats his slaves by always beating on them due to their dark color of skin while the light-yellow slaves work inside the house. Armand is just racist and has no emotion towards his actions he just thinks he is powerful for being white and wealthy as he thinks he is. Desiree is the protagonist she is thoughtful and sincere she is the opposite of Armand. She represents the light even though her child looks of a mixed race she still unconditionally loves the child.

Desiree’s Baby written by Kate Chopin, is a mind boggling story that gives the reader a true reflection of how cruel American history was to everyone. After reading this story I realized that if we surrender ourselves to anything except love, it will open us up to ignorance, hatred, and lies; thus eventually destroying ourselves and becoming lost, alone and very unhappy. Armand’s Family name was very important to him. He was born into a wealthy white family that was well known as slave owners. His association with his slaves was strictly a master slave relationship. He was also aware of the fact that his mother was black. This secret was Armand’s problem with who he was. Therefore his ignorance and repugnant behavior towards Desiree and their

In the short story, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, a young lady named Desiree was deserted as a child but found and adopted by the Valmonde’s. She grew up and met a young man named Armand Aubigny. Mr. Armand Aubigny is a part of a wealthy family. He was a very strict and hardworking man, but he also had slaves working for him. Shortly after meeting, Desiree and Armand eventually fall in love and decide to get married.

These two stories exemplify the epitome of women’s repression in the male-dominated society of the late nineteenth century by conveying the feelings of

Desiree’s Baby In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, Armand and Desiree loved each other the way they wanted to love each other. Who puts a definition on love? Loving this feeling! Loving it!

Malheiro, B. "The Victorian Woman - 1876 Victorian England Revisited." The Victorian Woman - 1876 Victorian England Revisited. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2013. <http://logicmgmt.com/1876/overview/victorian_woman/victorian_woman.htm>.

Are you ready to sit down and listen to how the color of your skin changed your parents’ mind on whether they loved you or not? In the short story “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree loves her little bundle of joy that she created with her husband. But, does her husband have the same feelings? “Desiree’s Baby”, took place in South, Louisiana before the American Civil War and that is where Armand had met the love of his life. “That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot” (Chopin, 1893, para. 1). Apparently, he married Desiree because she was “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere,” (Chopin, 1893, para. 1) and he fell in love with her that day. It is hard to just fall in love with someone who they

In the two stories “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, it is clear what roles women played during the time periods they were written. These roles vary greatly in each story. In Atwood’s story women are both independent and self-efficient; however, they are also still reliant on men for happiness. In Chopin’s story women are solely purposed around pleasing their husbands and caring for their families, and wanting anything but this would be greatly unusual and frowned upon. Though there are many contrasts in these stories concerning women’s roles in society, there are more similarities. Both of these stories have strong similar ideas of what roles women should play in marriage and family, being that their main purpose was to marry and find happiness within a man. By making this role obvious they both greatly reflect the time periods of when these stories were written.