Preview

Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
576 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin
In the story “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, a girl named Desiree falls in love with a man named Armand. When Desiree was just a baby she was set on someone's doorstep by her original family and she was growing up with the family that found her. This means that she didn’t know her ancestry so she could have been twenty five percent black. She met Armond and they wanted to get married and Desiree’s father said you don’t know her ancestry so she could be black. Armond didn’t care because he loved her and they got married and had a baby. The baby started to have its skin color get darker, Armond thought the baby was black so that Desiree was black.Although she believes she is black, Desiree’s decision to walk into the swamp carrying the child is wrong because to take your own life and your child’s life is not the right thing to do. …show more content…
Armand says leave so she was supposed to go her parents. She said that if she was black then she could not live because during this time black people were treated unfair and were slaves. She went into a swamp with the child and never showed up to her parent’s house,she died. Although she believes she is black, Desiree’s decision to walk into the swamp carrying the child is wrong because to take your own life and your child’s life is not the right thing to do. She also could have had other options like going to her parents house or going somewhere like

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    To analyze the gender stereotypes through the female’s traits and male’s traits in OLX Indonesia television commercials “Household” version, as the main theory, the writer uses Simone de Beauvoir’s critical thinking about the construction of gender by the society in feminine’s point of view and how women become what society wants to be because of the social construction about femininity and masculinity. She asserted that, “One is not born but rather becomes, a woman” (Beauvoir 1953, 273). In her book “The Second Sex”, Beauvoir stated about women that actually become women as what society expect them to be because they are taught to do so; women should be like this and not should be like that. Moreover, it told about how men become the ‘Subject’…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This is an example of dramatic irony,this is believed that this stereotype is true completely changes the way she thinks about herself. Chopin changed the way Madame Valmondé thought about herself, when her husband thought that she had not been white when they realized that the baby was not white;although it was not true. Armand had always disliked slaves because, that is what he was told to do all his life. Come to find out that Armand is not entirely white, you can make an inference that his father had an affair with a slave, and didn’t won’t anyone to know so Armand has thought growing up his entire life that he was white.He stereotyped Madame Valmondé for not being white just because the baby did not turn out to be white. Madame Valmondé decided that she would just go, she thought it would be better not to live than upset her husband whom was not entirely white. He had blamed the baby not being white on Madame Valmondé who just so happened to be entirely white.Soon later on after Madame Valmondé had left, Armand was throwing away, stuff from Madame Valmondé, he found a letter from his mother that he had not known, saying “But, above all,” she wrote, “night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miscegenation is seen throughout the various stories, such as "Desiree's Baby" by Chopin and in "The Wife of My Youth" by Chesnutt. In "Desiree's Baby" Desiree's husband, Armand, is ashamed of part of him that he believed to be inferior to the White in him, ashamed of his African roots. Once Desiree's baby is born, and the quadroon in the baby begins to show, Armand seeks to veil his secret by accusing Desiree of having African ancestry herself, which at the time was seen as a "fault". Driven by shame and hopelessness, Desiree takes her life and her child's. In "the Wife of My Youth" light skinned African American believed they were superior to those that were darker than them. Mr. Ryder, a former slave, found himself thinking like the other "Blue Veins" members; the lighter they were the more superior they were. When Mr. Ryder finds himself in the presence of "the wife of [his] youth" he reflects on what he is and where he came from, and takes again his former spouse for a wife again. Miscegenation today is still criticized, although we see more interracial marriages than previous years. Like Mr. Ryder, I feel that accepting where you come from makes you a more legitimate person. I prefer Chesnutt's method on portraying miscegenation, although Chopin's is very…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Initially, Armand is the picturesque face of a beautiful relationship, a man of "passion…swept along like an avalanche…drives headlong over all obstacles" (141). When Madame Valmonde asks Desiree what Armand thinks of the baby, she paints him as a most proud father, whose hostility towards the slaves has been weakened with each and every smile from the little one. Three months into the baby's life, the painting rots. Desiree cannot comprehend the reasons behind his awful transformation, but the reader can infer that the baby's blackness is becoming evermore visible. During these times, to be black was to be ugly; Armand's built-up anger and frustration toward his situation finally climaxed amidst his wife's pressing questions, and another instance of prejudice against minorities is exposed. "It means that the child is not white; it means that you are not white" (143). Emotionally ravished and bent over with false guilt, Desiree storms out of the house, the baby in arms, and permanently disappears among the banks of the nearby…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    You can feel the tension in the air between Desiree and Armand. They loved each other with pure passion, Desiree and Armand had a beautiful baby together and as well loved her unconditionally. This was until Armand found out about Desiree’s upcoming as a child and heritage. This was in a time where blacks and whites were not considered equal, and blacks were treated unfairly to the rest of society. Armand found out that his beloved wife is black, “ He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife’s soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Desiree Baby” the writer Kate Chopin creates the image of racial prejudice, unequal gender roles and patriarchal society. It is a tragic story which portraits the brutal attitude towards the black people. The writer shows us the barbarous world where an innocent wife faces the cruel side of her husband because the child she gave birth was not white. At the unpleasant ending, the story turns into a mournful short story because the husband, Armand discovers that he is the reason and responsible for the baby not being white.…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the era Chopin wrote "Desiree's Baby" sexism was a major point in the lives of women, permitting them from being able to speak for themselves. Chopin later reveals that Armand was the one who truly was of black dissent and he was the one who had passed those genes down to the baby. But Desiree who has all the right in the world to defend herself cannot simply because of her sex. She is accused of the "unconscious injury she had brought upon [Armand's] home and his name"(244). Although Chopin states that Desiree is whiter than Armand and the baby, because of the setting of the story she cannot defend her honor in saying she isn’t black. Peel writes that, "Desiree is immersed in her husband's value system and never stands up to [Armand], not…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “ Desiree’s Baby” Desiree decided it would be easier to walk into a swamp and kill herself rather than live. This is wrong because she hurt her family and she could have became happy again if she didn't kill herself. In the passage it says,” My own Desiree: Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you.” This shows how much her family cared and loved for her that they'd still love her even if she was biracial. This also shows how hurt they were when they heard that she had committed suicide because they loved her so much. If she would have went back to Valmonde she could have lived a happy life.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Armand Made Desiree

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A families name and lineage were important to society, and to him. When Armand was faced with Desiree’s past, he was so blinded by love that he was also blinded to her “obscure origin.” (Chopin, 31) When considering her past, her parents, her history, “Armand looked into her eyes and did not care.” (31) However, when the subject of her namelessness was brought up, Armand hesitates. “What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?”(31) Instead of just ignoring her namelessness, Armand justifies it by saying his family is prestigious enough to cover for Desiree’s unintentional fault. In order for there to be a justification, there has to be some question about whether something is acceptable or not. The question here is about Desiree’s name. In their society, your family dictated your race, your ‘purity’, your social standing, and pretty much your future. Armand failed to consider that is name could be tarnished, that Desiree herself could tarnish his name. Armand’s confidence in the prestige of his family’s name reinforces the importance of a family’s name in the Antebellum South, and shows how far his family could fall if it was compromised by black blood. Society gave the Aubigny name prestige and power, and Armand wanted to keep his name on top. In order to do that, he had to conform to society, and let society control him.…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kate Chopin’s creation of the frail hearted Mrs. Mallard enlightens through irony and twists, about the servitude and acceptance of fate women in the nineteenth century faced regarding marriage. A life of independence outside of the constraints of marriage was a fantasy for women like Mrs. Mallard. When she is finally offered the opportunity and it was taken away from her abruptly, it leads to her literal heartbreak. Mrs. Mallard’s death showcased her unwillingness to return to her life of limitation that she’d been longing to escape, the irony of her broken heart, the exemplification of the lifestyle of women of the era, as well as the bittersweet undertone of marriage.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Desiree's Baby

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    her anyway. Which by the way, that sometimes happens when you find someone that you really like. Regardless of what anyone has to say or tell you about that person you are going to still want to be with them. As time went on, Desiree and Ahmand became united in holy matrimony. To their union a child was born. Now, the problem begins. It wasn't until there was a question about the baby's race, the hardship on the plantation began. Only because her identity resembled that of a slave. While now, she would have to leave the plantation, only because of the outer appreance of the child. When all along, I feel that Ahmand knew that he was the cause of the child African decendency. Her family wanted her to come back, but she felt that she would change there lives. I think Chopin really indentified the power of a woman by not letting Desiree go back home. It exemplifies independance, toughness, and a desire…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In "The Locket" by Kate Chopin the conclusion is predictable. Kate Chopin has a history of writing short ironic stories. In "The Locket" four Confederate soldiers sit near a campfire waiting for battle orders, two of the men questions Edmond about his locket. They jokingly agree that it must be a charm since he has not been injured in over a year of fighting. The locket was a parting gift from Edmond's beloved Octovie .…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the feminist bildungsroman The Awakening (1899), Kate Chopin highlights the internal struggles of a Victorian woman restricted from achieving artistic, financial, and sexual freedom due to conventional gender roles and expectations imposed upon her by society. The author explores the journey of Edna Pontellier, a dissatisfied Protestant wife living in the Creole society of late - nineteenth century New Orleans. The protagonist is on a quest to reclaim independence and unity with herself. Along this arduous spiritual trek, Edna is influenced by Adele Ratignolle, a loving and dedicated Creole wife representing the ideal traditional woman, and Mademoiselle Reisz, a recluse who follows her own desires and is often seen as rebellious to the image…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story “Desiree’s baby”, the author writes about a great tragedy which is told using the slave settings of the 1800’s when being black was seen as a curse and the brand of slavery reigned the African American race. In the beginning of the story, Desiree is found abandoned, by Madame Valmonde and is adopted by her and her husband. As years passed, Desiree becomes a beautiful and gentle woman whom catches the attention of a wealthy, known, and educated man named Armand. Desiree and Armand fall in love and marry. They live in joyous matrimony until the birth of their child which turns out to be of African American decent. Outraged by this, Armand assumes that Desiree is not white and he disowns his wife and child. At the end of the story Armand discovers that it is not Desiree who is black, but he himself who carries African blood in his veins. But it is too late, for Desiree “Disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.”…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of Desiree's Baby

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Even though Desiree had a white mom raised by a black family; she still is a white mom. Armand is viewed as a “…stone image: silent, White and motionless” not a bright vibrant person as Desiree (Erickson 2). Slaves were used for decades to walk picking corn, cotton, and/or wheat for their white slave owners. Slavery is what caused the Civil War. In the story Armand hates negroes. Armand hasn’t punished one of “his slaves since the birth of his son (Chopin 2) When slaves were in the fields, the white slave owners would sit back and watch them do all of the hard manual work. Armand’s dad is black and he did not know about his own race. When Armando storms out of the hospital to go burn Desiree’s stuff, she feels helpless because her parents were black.…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays