Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

Desiree's Baby, a short story written in 1892 by American writer Kate Chopin is about the problem of a man's pride overcoming the love he has for his wife and how a simple remark can end a relationship. The purpose of me writing this essay is to help you, the reader understand the reason why Armand's pride is so much bigger than the love for his wife and how race can change everything in the blink of an eye.
The story takes place in Louisiana on two plantations L'Arbi a family name and Valmondé. In the story Armand is a strict slave owner who is mean to his slaves so mean that the narrator says the negroes have forgotten how to be gay. Pride and race are two key points that the author puts into the story for the reader to see and understand.
Armand was a slave owner who came from a respected family whose name was well known so he felt that he could use this to his advantage as another way to feel good about himself besides owning slaves. Armand's pride always came before family because he felt like he had to protect it no matter what the cost this is why in the story he tells his wife and baby to leave.
The narrator describes Desiree and Armand's relationship as being superficial meaning that his love for her wasn't real, but only superficial he only loved her outer beauty and not her inner beauty and once the trophy lost its shine he took it from the shelf and threw it away. Armand's love for his baby wasn't felt genuinely but instead only through pride and prejudice because he felt that since the baby was a boy that it would be able to carry on his family name which was the only thing that Armand really truly cared