Protagonist as Antagonist: A Study of Petry and Chopin's Works

In both Ann Petry’s “Like a Winding Sheet” and Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” the protagonist is also the antagonist. In the story, Like a Winding Sheet its Mae’s husband, Johnson, and in the story Desiree’s Baby it’s Desiree’s husband, Armand. In the beginning of both stories their husband seem to be loving, caring husbands who would never hurt their family. Then, the stories turn in a twist when the husband became insolent and angry toward their wives, but they were feeling furious towards themselves. Johnson was repeatedly getting abused from the outside world and in his mind and he starts to espouse a dismissive image that turned to anger against his wife and eventually he kills her. Armand was angry at his wife because his son turned out

The motivation behind this article is to analyze why Armand 's pride was greater and more than the affection for his better half, Desiree and how race changed everything. All through this story, Armand is depicted as the man who had it all. He assumed that on account of his family name which he believed was, "… one of the most established and proudest in Louisiana" (Chopin 1). The way that Armand was a slave proprietor and originated from a family whose name was notable he utilized his family name as another approach to feel like a lord other than owning slaves. Armand 's pride started things out before his family since he had an inclination that he needed to secure the family name and history at any cost. For this he didn 't need anything to pulverize who and what he was which was an outstanding slave proprietor, so he advised his better half and child to leave since he expected that she was dark. Armand did not need individuals to disapprove of him or make him into a joke in this way, he felt like "… he no longer cherished her, in light of the oblivious harm she had brought upon his home and his name" (Chopin 2). The "oblivious damage" Armand alludes to is the lost memory he feels his better half has lost of her ethnicity. At long last, Armand felt that his pride was harmed on account of the disgrace his significant other has conveyed to the family name of Aubigny. Race is the second significant issue in the short story other than pride. Since Armand assumed that he knew his past and who he really was and he accepted that Desiree was the motivation behind why their child is blended. Additionally, as a result of the way that Desiree was received and did not realize what her ethnicity was Armand felt like her race, which he accepted was dark, changes everything. Race is a shading not a source and Desiree looked white and white components