Desiree's Baby Racism

The story Desiree’s Baby is about a young woman who is adopted by a two wealthy french creoles that live in Louisiana. Monsieur and Madame Valmonde adopted Desiree when she was found as a young infant by a pillar near the gate of their estate. The story then follows Desiree as she matures into a young woman and is married to a man named Armand whom which she loves very much. Armand and desiree soon have a child and both are extremely happy about the child but Armand soon pulls away both his compassion and happiness when he see’s something wrong with the child. Armand realises that the child is has some black in it, which happens to be the skin color of slavery. Shamed Armand blames Desiree for his child being part black seeing that Desiree’s

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

(176). It becomes apparent that Armand?s actions and words greatly affect Desiree when she says, ?My mother, they tell me I am not white? (176). Desiree?s powerless situation can in many ways be blamed for her unresolved uncertainty about her racial identity.

Blanche a female slave who is whiter than her master, Armand, is his slave because of her known African background. Armand’s action can also be classified as naturalistic. At-first he treats his family with love. After discovering his son’s background, Armand lets the society views on race to take over his actions with his family, sealing all their fates.

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).

What sets Desirée apart in terms of her subjugation by Armand? It is not race, but the lack thereof. Desirée is unable to hide anything about herself because her origins are unknown (Chopin 401). She is a willing captive to Armand as a result of her love and her marriage, but she is not an unwilling captive to race; she is an unwilling captive to her otherness. She does not have doubts about her race, but must live with the reality that “Armand has told me I am not white” (Chopin 404). Because her origins are unknown and she does not have a name, she must acquiesce to the whims of Armand, who had at first decided to be unconcerned about “the girl’s obscure origins” (Chopin 401). Armand is the power here. He makes all of the decisions regarding the lives of those within his circle of power, and he does so because he is allowed to do so. Madam

The characters of Desiree and Armand are opposites of each other. Armand cares more for his name and status than the love of a woman who cares deeply for him. He doesn’t see or doesn’t care that his relationship with Desiree goes deeper than the color of his child’s skin. He

The sense that Armand is so proud of himself is like a hint of how the end will turn out because when we realize that the child is black the reader automatically knows that he is going to blame his wife. Never would he consider himself black. The thought of Armand being black never crosses the reader’s mind either. Kate Chopin also deceived the reader into thinking that Désirée is in fault by

It turns out the baby is of mixed blood and because of this, he shuns his wife and the child he was so proud of only days before. “He absented himself from home and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse.”(317). Armand was “the proudest father in the parish…it is a boy to bear his name.”(317). Additionally, he accuses Désirée of not being white (a crime against his family’s “purity”) which she adamantly denies. “It is a lie it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown and my eyes are gray, Armand you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,” “Look at my hand whiter than yours, Armand,”(318). She writes to her adopted mother and tells her of what is happening. Her mother tells her to return home with the child where they will both be loved, but Désirée is so shocked and disheartened she sets off towards a local bayou with the child never to be seen again. Armand has made the decision to lose his family in order to save his name and it’s too late to bring Désirée back. The irony is that the letter read by Armand from his mother reveals to him that it is he who is of mixed blood and not Désirée.

Armand begins to change as the black complexion of his son becomes more clearly recognized discloses that the color of his son was dependent of his love towards him and his wife. Particularly, “When the child darkens, Armand's feelings for Desiree change at the same pistol-shot speed with which he ostensibly fell in love... The callous treatment of his wife upon their baby’s ‘metamorphosis’ suggests he never loved her” (Bauer 142). The speed in which Armand stops loving Desiree makes known that his love for her was conditional and is solely built upon the color of Desiree's skin and blood.

Desiree's life is full of indescribable and pitiful events; first, she was lift alone when she was a baby, nameless and no one knows who her family are - this generally refers to the personality of a woman which is, metaphorically, has no presence in the society. Moreover, throughout the story no decision is made by her but

In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, Chopin describes a story of an older woman, Madame Valmondé, coming to see her daughter, Desiree, who is married Armand Aubigny, and her baby. Mme. Valmondé, at first, is astonished at the appearance of the baby. Later, the baby herself shocks because of its dark appearance. Desiree later asks Armand why the baby is black. Then, Armand gets very angry, because Armand, a person who perceives he is of European race, has realized that he is the father to a black baby. Armand goes on to accuse Desiree of being black and being the cause of this perceived imperfection. A very distressed Desiree asks for Mme. Valmondé for help. Mme.

Désirées, the wife of a plantation owner, appears to be white and lives to believe that she is white, is drowned with confusion when her baby has a different skin complex. In fear that things will change when she finds out this new set of information, she panics and begins telling herself and her husband, “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair. Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand” (2). Although she might not be white to the eye she could have some African American descent in her history. Fingers are pointed to the wife when speaking of having African American descent because men had superiority above women. Race depicts society but so do the boundaries between men and women as men had social authority in the past. During this time, it was considered to be better to be white, so her husband evidently did not want to take blame for their child 's skin color and does not take blame. Furthermore, this new information that was revealed to the wife could mean several things. Back in the 1800’s in society, plantation owners were above African Americans in society. The wife panicked because she knew from that point on her life had the possibility of dramatically changing.

It is a story about a girl who leads a gentle life and adventures into an uncertain fairy tale. It is a story that confronts the meaning of love, a story that may even shed light on sexism, a story of self denial. It is the story of Desiree’s Baby. In this work, Kate Chopin reveals the dark aspects of human nature by the narrative of a young girls journey in life. Kate Chopin’s use of narration, symbolism, and secritism are used throughout the story of “Desiree’s Baby” to guide the audience through the life of a girl who residing in Pre-Civil War Louisiana, and treks on to experience the human tragedies of sexism, conditional love, and self denial.

In the time period that this story was written, a person’s background meant something as a name was a sense of wealth and worth. Since Desiree was adopted, her background was unknown and when Armand decided to marry Desiree he didn’t care because he would give her his name as all he cared about was his affection for her. For a little while all was well in the household. Desiree and Armand were happier than ever, and Armand treated his slaves better. This soon took a drastic turn as everyone noticed that their son had begun to show qualities of a Negro. Once these features were noticed, Armand’s attitude towards his wife and his slaves changed for the worst. In Armand’s eyes Desiree was at fault for giving the child those features since her history was unknown. Even after Desiree gives her husband evidence that she may not be a carrier, she and her child are still banished from the home and sent on their way.