Comparing Desiree's Baby And The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

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Some of the best surprising and dramatic short stories are “Desiree’s Baby” and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s Baby” is a story full of suspense and surprise due to the stunning final twist that catches all readers unaware. The story illustrates a young woman named Desiree that marries a young man called Armand, which they eventually have a child. When the baby was about three months old, Desiree becomes startled by the baby’s appearance since he’s strangely similar to the black boy fanning him. It is then that her husband Armand blames Desiree for not being white. After accusing her of being black, he tells her to leave with his child. Weeks later, the author reveals the shocking truth that Armand’s mother was black, which…show more content…
In her article, Gibert states Chopin’s techniques for a suspenseful story by saying, “Far from asserting her authority by allowing her audience to make unequivocal inferences from a writer-sanctioned ending, she…refuses to answer many of the questions she raised…thus, she prompts us to fill in the narrative gaps that remain at the end of our reading process, and even lets us decide what destiny may await the protagonists of her breathtaking story” (Gibert 1). For example, in the story, “Desiree’s Baby,” Madame Valmonde, Desiree’s mother says an ambiguous phrase, “This is not the baby!” when she saw the baby after four months. This statement was mistakenly understood by Desiree, because she thought Madame was surprised about how much the baby had grown, not by the way he had grown. Chopin also uses this technique in her story “The Story of an Hour” when Louise suddenly dies and shocks the readers by obscuring the message of the short story. The death of Louise makes readers wonder whether or not the author wanted to let the audience to learn that Louise death was a punishment because of her internal thoughts or it was just a sweet escape from
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