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 how she found Desiree. Madame Valmonde then ponders the romance that blossomed between Desiree and Armand, who eventually had the titular baby together. Back to the present moment, Madame Valmonde approaches Armand’s family estate, L'Abri, which is described as a “sad looking place.” The scourge of slavery still leaves its mark on L’Abri. Madame Valmonde’s impressions of L’Abri presage the events that unfold in the story. Desiree also reveals that Armand has the tendency to treat his black servants cruelly, for she whispers to her mother, “he hasn't punished one of them--not one of them--since baby is born.” Yet Desiree notices her husband’s demeanor change, as he becomes more violent with his slaves. Desiree also senses that the household servants are talking behind her back. One day it dawns on her why: her baby looks like a “Quadroon,” a person who is a quarter black. The realization of her baby’s mixed-race heritage drives a wedge between the couple, causing the racist Armand to abandon his wife, and causing Desiree herself to run away with her baby into the bayou. In this manner, Chopin reveals detail after detail slowly and with poignant irony,...
In one crucial scene, Desiree tries to reason with Armand, who cannot be reasoned with. Desiree speaks to him “in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice.” The narrator here clearly starts to make the social commentary that is integral to “Desiree’s Baby.” Chopin gently leads the reader towards a deft understanding of how troublesome Armand’s attitude is, and how racism impacts generation after generation. The blindness with which Armand makes his judgments becomes ever more ironic when the reader discovers with Armand the truth about his heritage.Works Cited
Chopin, K. (n.d.). Desiree’s baby. http://www.pbs.org/katechopin/library/desireesbaby.html
Gilbert, T. (2004). Textual, contextual, and critical surprises in “Desiree’s Baby.” Connotations 14(1-3). http://www.connotations.de/article/teresa-gibert-textual-contextual-and-critical-surprises-in-desirees-baby/
Peel, E. (1990). Semiotic subversion in “Desiree’s Baby.” American Literature 62(2): 223-237.
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
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
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
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