Desiree calls to him, "in a voice that must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice." When asked what the baby's dark physical features mean Aubigny pulls Desiree's clutching fingers from his arm "and thrust the hand away from him"; it means "...that the child is not white," Aubigny answers, adding that by implication Desiree herself is not purely white either.
Rather than embrace the child and reassure one's wife, the way an average man would likely do, Aubigny leaves Desiree and child alone and retreats into his dark world. He was so racist and hateful of any color of skin not his own, he felt that Desiree had brought shame and injury upon his family name. What kind of a man would fall in love so quickly, and then brutally dominate his pretty, soft, feminine wife (taking advantage of her sweetness in order to have a son so his name can be carried on), only to push her away when the child she bore for him did not live up to his expectations? The answer is Aubigny is a man from a culture where patriarchal and bigoted behavior is acceptable. Yes, contemptible to those with grace and loving personalities, but acceptable because for many individuals, that is just how life was in the south prior to the Civil War.
As if it wasn't enough that his wife committed suicide, her heart broken beyond repair, but in the final paragraphs readers are again reminded of the meanness and inhumane personality of Aubigny. The gothic horror that Chopin is capable of creating comes through in Aubigny's act of burning the cradle that the baby was born in. He also burned the lovely gowns that Desiree had owned and worn. "...Silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries" along with Desiree's bonnets. Oh Aubigny must have enjoyed seeing all those items go up in flames and smoke, but he wasn't the person to actually...
Desiree's Baby Kate Chopin In many of Kate Chopin's stories there are women who are repressed by their husbands. In that sense, there are a number of male characters written by the author who are portrayed as villainous. This proclivity of Chopin is certainly evinced within "Desiree's Baby," as her depiction of Armand renders him highly iniquitous. The supreme irony of this fact is that for the duration of the
Chopin Kate Chopin's Desiree's Baby explores the intersections between race, gender, and social status. Being adopted, Desiree is deprived of the knowledge of her own ancestry. Not knowing her ancestry is an ironic source of power for Desiree. On the one hand, she can assume whatever identity she chooses. On the other hand, her identity is whatever others project onto her. The central conflict of Chopin's story is in fact between
Kate Chopin "The Story Hour" 1) what impact story? 2) What? 3) What questions? 4)…. ID Summarize short stories by Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour" In this story, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard is mistakenly informed that her husband died in a railway accident. Her first impulse, after being stunned by the shock of the event, is to celebrate that she is free. Like so many women of her class during
Desiree's Baby is an 1892 story by Kate Chopin that examines how the Aubigny family falls apart due to assumptions and misunderstandings. In the story, Desiree, an orphan whose parentage is unknown and whom the Valmonde family lovingly raises, marries Armand Aubigny, a man whose father comes from a prominent family. Desiree eventually gets pregnant by and gives birth to Armand's son, who later is the cause for Armand to
Kate Chopin, author of "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin was born Kate O'Flaherty in 1850, in St. Louis, Missouri (Clarke 1). Chopin's mother was of French extraction and the young Kate grew up in a bilingual household. Chopin's household was also bicultural, encompassing both the cultures of north and south: both supporters of slavery and anti-slavery advocates lived in Missouri; Chopin's family kept slaves and her half-brother fought on
Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby” overtly and bluntly covers the topic of race relations and identity in America. Even in the pluralistic social milieu of Louisiana, being racially mixed is a taboo. The story also shows how the very concept of racial purity is a joke, a social construct and a manufactured category. Written in third person, the story opens with Madame Valmonde, Desiree’s adopted mother, wistfully reflecting on
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