Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

657 Words3 Pages
The story of the Desiree’s Baby by Chopin discusses the plight of Desiree, a young woman who had been adopted by Madame Valmonde. The strory starts by describing the journey of Madame Valmonde to L’Abri to see Desiree, her daughter and the baby she had delivered. At first, Madame Valmonde could not believe that Desiree had a baby as she remembered everything about her when she was still a baby. Desiree was married to Aarmand Aubigny, a young man of French descent. They were happily married and blessed with a baby. Armand was even very happy that the baby born was a boy. However, everything changed drastically when Armand realized that their baby was black. Armand did not want to be associated with it holding the view that it would be shameful for his family to have a black child because black people, then called Negroes were slaves. All along, Armand believed that he was purely white, therefore he blamed Desiree for the color of the baby. He even confronted her arguing that she had lied to him by not saying…show more content…
It appears that racism was at its peak at the time the story was written. It even seems to be greater than love at the time. When Desiree married Armand, they were very happy because they all thought they were white. However, there was a total change in emotions and feelings when Armand suspected Desiree to be black. He did not only despise her, but also his only son because of his skin color. This is because the story explains that Armand asked Desiree to go away with the baby. The other thing that shows that racism was a major issue at the time is the fact that Armand parents had not disclosed to him that his mother was also black. He only realized it when he had already chased his wife and child away in a letter that his mother had written thanking God for his son not knowing the truth. Other themes that can be deduced from the story are family, religion, and
Show More
Related

  • Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    The limitations of women’s lives in the 19th Century in “Desiree’s Baby” Women in the nineteenth century lived in an age defined by gender inequality. Women were expected to remain inferior to their fathers and husbands. Their occupational choices were also very limited. The middle and upper class women generally remained home, watching over their children and taking care of the household. Differences between people may often bring altercations between one another. This is found often true between

    Read More

  • Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

    1377 Words  | 6 Pages

    Rough Draft #2 “Desiree’s Baby” is a very different style from other stories and the way she writes her stories is how she looks out at life, often in different ways than most. Many things in this story are hard to catch and the author's style is very different for this time period. While reading the story hints are dropped, but they are very hard to pick up on. Kate Chopin always has a way of surprising you and leave you on the edge of your seat. Everything about “Desiree’s Baby is shocking, some

    Read More

More about Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

Open Document