Desiree's Baby Racism

In “Desiree Baby”, author, Chopin emphasizes racism by selecting certain words to symbolize the association between light and darkness, and the slaves on the plantation.

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).

In ancient Egypt the Pharaoh was in charge of most of their colony. For example, the Pharaoh could tell his army when to go and prepare for battle. The Pharaoh would set up rituals to worship the gods

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 fact that a wealthy white couple had a quadroon child would bring disgrace to the family name. Armand suspects Desiree is the one who is half black, which could very well be true. She was taken in by her father Monsieur Valmonde when she was found under the shadow of a stone pillar at the entrance to their home. Madame Valmonde was unable to conceive a child and viewed this as a blessing from god and they raised her as if she was their own. She grew up to be beautiful and with a white appearance. Armand fell in love with her and was reminded that she was nameless. He knew that she could have been the cause of the mixed baby by her unknown origin. Knowing this, he was very quick to decide she was the cause of the disgrace to his name and home, and from that point grew cold hearted and shunned them away. During the time this story was set it would have been unheard of for a powerful white couple who owned a large cotton plantation to have a mixed baby.

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.

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

The adage "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a crucial message that can be found in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It can be applied directly to Napoleon, a pig who serves as the leader of Animal Farm. As Napoleon gains more and more power, he soon becomes a selfish, immoral leader. At first, he had the farm’s best interest at heart, but he soon became blinded with power. This eventually causes him to turn into a copy of Mr. Jones, the previous leader who they had overthrown.

These insights are on the topic of Chopin’s view of feminism. Chopin portrays Desiree as a very virtuous and woman. However, Armand Aubigny is portrayed as an individual to be feared and not a very likeable character in general. Armand falsely accused Desiree for the blackness in their baby, as he knows well that he “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin 632). In the heated argument between Armand and Desiree, Desiree pleads to Armand that she is not black and is white to which Armand rudely responds “As white as La Blanche’s” (Chopin 631). Furthermore, Chopin’s portrayal of the other women is positive with no glaring character flaws in Mme. Valmondé and Armand’s mother. Valmondé is described as a loving mother to the orphaned Desiree. Furthermore, her loving attributes are highlighted as she asks Desiree to return home. Overall, in “Desiree’s Baby”, the description of the female is much more positive than that of the male as portrays the respectable characters of Desiree and Aubigny who are contrasted with despicable characters like Armand.

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.

Sometimes the hardest thing for an individual to do is taking a stance against the culture they live in, and sometimes the people who take the stance are underappreciated. Sadly, this is story of a talented writer named Kate Chopin; who took a stance against her environment with her writing, most notably in her short story, “Desiree’s Baby”. Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby” uses the themes of naturalism, realism, and the usage of irony to expose the hypocrisy of racism.

(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.

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

Desiree knew her outcome either way if the word spread, that Armand could either turn her and her child into a slave since he technically owned her or he could have her killed. She then makes the decision to wander into the

Historians over the last century, while juxtaposing the mechanisms of colonialization for the three main colonial powers in the New World, have consistently portrayed France’s relationship with the indigenous population of New France as the most genial and cooperative. Unlike the Spanish invaders who enslaved large numbers of indigenous populations to fulfil brutal labor needs, or the English who established nearly instant hostile, and some would say genocidal relationships with locals at Roanoke, Jamestown, and Massachusetts Bay, “French-Native interactions are widely known for the cultural adaptations and creative innovations that facilitated trade, diplomacy, and kinship across large portions of North America (11).” Instead of challenging this view, Brett Rushforth in Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France argues that the enslavement of indigenous populations developed out of this adaptable relationship between the French colonists and their Indian allies residing in the Pays d’en Haut. The cultural, economic, and political pressures exerted by the French presence evolved the practices of traditional slave raiding and holding, which had long been conducted in the region prior to European arrival, into a system neither European nor indigenous. Bonds of Alliance highlights a topic largely ignored from surface studies of New France, specifically, the enslavement of Native people for French acquisition. Unfortunately, his obsessive