Compare And Contrast Chently Mallard And Desiree's Baby

Kate Chopin was one of the leading female writers of her time and did so with style and grace. Chopin used unconventional female characters often as the leading roles in her stories, which was unusual in late 1800 and early 1900 writings. Many people linchpin the significant roles of the powerful women in her stories, but the men played a very salient role in the empowerment of these women. In both of Chopin’s famous short stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” both have men who share similar traits and different traits as characters. In “The Story of an Hour” Chopin’s main male character, Brently Mallard, is indirectly characterized, while in “Desiree’s Baby” Chopin’s main male character, Armand Aubigny, is directly characterized.

The way these male characters’ characters are indirectly similar is that they are not dominant figures in these stories. They are both static characters. Both Brently Mallard and Armand Aubigny do not show change in personality a lot and they aren’t the main characters. Dissimilarly, Armand’s personality does not change throughout “Desiree’s Baby” but his actions and reactions do change which leads to the change of his wife, Desiree. The actions and behavior of Armand slightly change, after his baby is born, he is nicer and treats his slaves better. Armand has a direct role and when he tells Desiree to leave, that is what empowers her and makes her leave. His personality does not truly change because after he discovers his baby is mixed he is cold and mean and continues being harsh to his slaves. It is unknown how Armand changes after he discovers he, himself, is mixed. In “The Story of an Hour” it is only concluded that Mr.Mallard is not a harsh man because there is no direct characterization of him. The only reaction that Mr.Mallard has, that can be concluded, is grieving over his wife’s death considering his friend had to cover his eyes when his wife collapsed, indicating that he cared about