Themes Of Stereotypes In 'Desiree's Baby'

Stereotypes are a form of prejudice everyone will once experience in their lifetime. Stereotypes are centered around an individual's race, gender, social class, religion, and age. They have been known to be elements people use to make judgments and subjectify people to one key feature. As Gordon Allport states, “ To state the matter technically, a noun abstracts from a concrete reality some one features and assembles different concrete realities only with respect to this one feature”(364). Mr.Allport’s words can be summed up to say stereotypes have been used as key fundamentals to associate one feature or aspect of a person with a group that represents it, typically in an unfavorable way.

“Desiree’s Baby” is a tragic short story written by Kate Chopin. The story is about the struggle between the main characters Armand and his wife Desiree. The relationship is torn apart after they come to the realization that they have a quadroon baby or quarter black. Neither of them know that either one could be the cause of the mixed baby. Armand sees this as a curse to his family name and disowns Desiree and the baby. After Desiree and her baby are disowned by Armand, Desiree feels she has nothing to live for. She disappears into the bayou where we can only guess she kills herself. In the end, we learn that when Armand is burning the possessions of Desiree and the baby he finds a

“A stereotype is a rigid, oversimplified, often exaggerated belief that is applied both to an entire social category of people and to each individual within it. Stereotypes form the basis for prejudice, which in turn is used to justify discrimination and attitudes. They can be positive as well as negative.” Stereotypes exist within any social group, and social group or cliques which are groups of people who share similar characteristics and interests such as the ones priorly said.

Stereotypes are unescapable. No matter what part of the world you are at or who you are talking to, everyone has some bias. Claude Steele say’s exactly this in his book “Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” when he states “ We could all take out a piece of paper, write down the major stereotypes of these identities, and show a high degree of agreement in what we wrote.” His piece addresses the effects of stereotypes, which result in what Steele calls “stereotype threat”. Stereotype threat is being aware that there is an expected behavior or response to a certain part of your identity and being afraid to carry out this expected behavior or response. The threat of proving this stereotype can cause you to lose

A stereotype can be defined as a widely held, but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Stereotypes are in most cases falsified views that are used to represent an entire entity. Even when proven untrue, these persisting ideas can consume the naïve and offend the accused. As I sat in this Latin American Pro Seminar course, I noticed how unique and extraordinary each young lady in the class was. Even though they were all of Latin American descent, they differed in so many ways. I also noted that these ladies were different than the Latina individuals that I had previously seen in the media. Captivated by how intelligent and distinctive my colleagues were, I was prompted to write my research paper on the different stereotypes of the Latina woman and how I perceive them to be inaccurate.

What is a stereotype? In my definition it can be a term used to classify an object or thing, maybe even a person. A stereotype can be a person who has little knowledge of something or none at all. There are a lot of different stereotypes out there. For example, “White men can’t jump” is one used in sports such as basketball. This can be a stereotype to people who have never witnessed a white man dunk a basketball. Larry Bird was arguably one of the best basketball players in the history of the NBA with many awards and achievements to prove it. He was indeed a white man therefore, counterpointing the stereotypical phrase, “white men can't jump.” Just like this one, there are many stereotypes out there with a broad range of phrases or

Stereotypes are uneducated opinions towards a certain group, most commonly used within races, skin colors, and cultures. Stereotypes are usually from a majority group towards a minority group. Most of us do not think about it much but, Stereotypes are in our everyday lives, and everyone has taken part of a stereotype, either they have been the one stereotyping or they have been the victim of a stereotype and has been stereotyped. Throughout my life, I have heard a lot of stereotypes towards my kind, and more than likely it is always a negative stereotype. Some stereotypes through time die-off but as they die-off, new stereotypes flood or society. I am a minority, I am Mexican-American and classify myself and embrace myself as one. The stereotype that I have experienced the most is that all Mexicans are unintelligent delinquents. The stereotype of Mexicans being unintelligent and lazy was influenced by the media. Media sources in our lives skew the way we judge people. This stereotype may be taken lightly by everyone who iterates it but what is not taken into account is the effect this stereotype has in the community for those of us that are Mexican. It has a negative impact on my community, I noticed that the negative effect of this stereotype starts by influencing a couple of individuals and then expands to the community as a whole. The stereotype that Mexicans are these unintelligent delinquents gets planted in our heads at a young age and that affects the way some of

First of all, what are stereotypes? A stereotype is a quality assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality, and sexual orientation, but there is not only one type of stereotype there are actually two types of stereotypes. There are positive and negative ones. For example, a positive stereotype about asians would be that they are smart and polite. A negative one would be something like asians have small eyes or they’re short. Some people may get offended by these and other people will not care about it at all. These are effects from the stereotypes.

Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.

Today we live in a world that is a multicultural society. More commonly America is said to be a “melting pot”, meaning that our countries populations are made up of many different cultures and ethnic groups. As people with different cultures come in contact with each other there are external aspects such as food, dress, and language that becomes very evident. Using our own cultures lens we view everything from our cultures perspective thus narrowing our views of others and aiding in the difficulty of communicating with individuals of other cultures and backgrounds. Stereotypes exist within every culture all around the world, this includes, African Americans and White Americans within the United States. When thinking of stereotypes the first

The dictionary defines stereotypes as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” Our world today is run by an infinite amount of stereotypes. They affect every aspect of people's’ lives. Members of society let others’ opinions affect their own, and people who go against stereotypes are frowned upon. Some stereotypes include those surrounding African Americans, people of Asian descent, and transgendered people. Most people look at an African American male and either get scared of him, assume he raps, our plays sports. However not every single black male in the world partakes in those activities. Some people look at Asians and assume they are all smart, and good at every subject in school, but that

Stereotypes occur everyday among all individuals. According to the Oxford dictionaries, stereotype is “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” (“Stereotypes,” n.d). Stereotypes are often negative and has been an issue within the American society. There have been a lot of stereotypical words used against a lot of races and culture especially through the media. The Media is seen as a very powerful source of information for people all over the world.

Stereotypes make us simplify our social world so it’s it becomes easier to recognize some situations. They make us understand basic groups of people to some extent of truth. “The most famous study of racial stereotyping was published by Katz and Braly in 1933, 100 university students were asked to indicate the traits most characteristic of ten different social groups. Students displayed a high level of agreement about the traits of certain racial and ethnic groups, such as Negroes (described as superstitious by 84% of the students, and as lazy by 75%), and Jews (described as shrewd by 79%).” All kinds of people of stereotypes about others.

Racism and discrimination has been a crucial part in American culture and history. In Desiree’s Baby, written by Kate Chopin, it can be seen how racism affects family dynamics and how superiority is maintained in specific situations. A major reason for the slavery movement was a fear of the unknown, of different cultures and customs. Bigotry towards anything different was completely accepted as the honorable and just way to react to anything considered inferior.

In “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin centers on race and miscegenation in the Creoles of Louisiana during the days when slavery was legal. Chopin brings together two characters, Armand and Desiree who are completely different. Armand is a cruel slave owner who comes from “one of the oldest and proudest families in Louisiana,” and Desiree is adopted and doesn’t know her biological ancestry. The two marry and have a son whose skin turns dark after three months. Chopin shows how human beings are valued through skin color, and she shows that interracial marriages and interbreeding are not acceptable. In the story, Chopin uses three main characters, Armand, Desiree and the baby to show that love and