Desiree's Baby
In Joel Chandler Harris’s short story “The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story” an older former slave tells a story of a fox trying to capture a rabbit using a tar figure to a young white boy. The writing of the story is told using a “Negro dialect”, which in doing so shows the culture of the time and adds difficulty to the reading of the passage. The fox designs a clever contraption which on the outside is covered in tar and results in capturing the rabbit. In the end of the story even though the rabbit is captured, it is not revealed whether or not the rabbit is eaten. A general theme can be thought to be a battle between the clever yet weak and the strong but stupid, or the discussion of their time being black versus white. The way I view it the roles
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From this romance they get married and have a child that is of a different appearance than that of normal whites. The differences are further noticed when the baby is three months old and Desiree remarks “Has grown strangely” and notices his hearty cries. Eventually it is revealed that the baby is of partially black descent, more specifically one-fourth black. From birth Armand noticed the difference in the baby, but assumed it was from his wife. At first Armand was proud of his son and even started treating his slaves better and was even noticed “Not frowned since he fell in love.” Around the time the baby is three months of age, Armand begins to avoid Desiree and starts treating his slaves worse than before. Since Armand assumes the “tainted blood” comes from Desiree’s side he has her leave with the baby. As the story is ending Armand is burning all evidence of his connection to Desiree and the baby. In doing this he finds a letter by his parents confirming that Armand’s mother was of mixed blood. Also, as Desiree is leaving she finally notices the differences between her more pale skin and Armand’s darker toned skin. Chopin’s writing of this story is clearly to bring up the class and racial prejudice system that existed at the time and is still even relevant today in a similar way. The story is not just about race however,
From this romance they get married and have a child that is of a different appearance than that of normal whites. The differences are further noticed when the baby is three months old and Desiree remarks “Has grown strangely” and notices his hearty cries. Eventually it is revealed that the baby is of partially black descent, more specifically one-fourth black. From birth Armand noticed the difference in the baby, but assumed it was from his wife. At first Armand was proud of his son and even started treating his slaves better and was even noticed “Not frowned since he fell in love.” Around the time the baby is three months of age, Armand begins to avoid Desiree and starts treating his slaves worse than before. Since Armand assumes the “tainted blood” comes from Desiree’s side he has her leave with the baby. As the story is ending Armand is burning all evidence of his connection to Desiree and the baby. In doing this he finds a letter by his parents confirming that Armand’s mother was of mixed blood. Also, as Desiree is leaving she finally notices the differences between her more pale skin and Armand’s darker toned skin. Chopin’s writing of this story is clearly to bring up the class and racial prejudice system that existed at the time and is still even relevant today in a similar way. The story is not just about race however,