Kate Chopin’s Désirée’s Baby: a Misery Caused by Racism

Désirée’s Baby by Kate Chopin is an ironic fiction set in Louisiana where is located at Southern United States at a time when slavery was still practiced. The main characters are Désirée, Armand, and Madame Valmondé. Désirée and Armand are couple, whose origins and identities are not mentioned accurately by the narrator. Désirée is a young woman described by the narrator as “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere, —the idle of Valmondé.” (511) Furthermore, she is a foundling whose origin is a mystery. Armand, who is Désirée’s husband, spent his early years in France and came back to Louisiana with his father after his mother’s death when he was eight. Armand was raised by a widower and inherited a plantation from him, and later to be rich. Madame Valmondé, who is the first one be mentioned in the story, is Désirée’s adoptive mother, who found Désirée in the shadow of the big stone pillar. Valmondé family were childless, after they found Désirée, they raised her as their own child. Throughout the entire story, the birth of the baby not only triggers off the broken marriage but also brings out the main issue: race and heritage. In the background, Armand is an extremely rich and self-evident landowner who practices parental power on his wife, Désirée, and also on the black slaves he owns. What brings him the notion of parental domination and the power over women? And what effects does racism bring to Armand throughout the story, especially as he rejects his wife and their “changed” son? The theme explores about the reason why Armand’s pride is overcoming the love he has for his wife and how race changed everything. As the short story mentioned, Armand was born in France and had lived there until he was eight years old. After his mother passed away, Armand went to Louisiana with his father and was raised by his father himself. Therefore, there is a lack of maternal figure in Armand’s life. This is the reason why Armand is elegant and imperious. Without a