Desirees Baby: Race And Racism In Desiree's Baby

Desiree’s Baby is a story that is mainly about race. Unfortunately, three months after Desiree gives birth to her baby her life begins to fall apart. After reading this story I realized that if we surrender to ourselves and let our prejudices rule us, we will destroy our happiness; however in the long run we will then end up destroying ourselves! Desiree and Armand’s relationship could be described as a superficial love that was influenced by pride and being prejudice. In my own opinion I feel that a person’s race should never affect the way you feel about them. In addition to that if you take their hand in marriage and make a vow to spend the rest of your life with them for better or for worst through thick and thin, you should not let anything

As quoted from the Webster’s dictionary, “Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races” (Webster Dictionary Pg. 896). Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of biological differences between people. In this story as marriage and the birth of their baby boy came along, Armand was said to be the proudest father’s in the world. Desiree stated that, “Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name (which meant a lot to him).” In which he even changed his lifestyle and ways. He no longer punished any of the slaves, even when they pretended to be hurt. However as the time went by and the baby got older, Desiree started to notice unusual activity from the neighbors such as pop up visits and a change in manner from her husband’s attitude. Armand was under the impression that he was all white, however his baby proved otherwise, and because he was in denial and let pride sink in he blamed Desiree. Prejudice and pride, which are society’s pressures and the perceptions of black meaning inferior and white meaning superior, made Armand heartless and downright

They make a vow to love each other for better or for worst, through thick and thin. They make a vow to grow old together and enjoy life. If by any chance children are manifested during that marriage, they should be also loved and cherished by each parent no matter what the circumstance may be. In this story Armand asked Desiree for her hand in marriage and then later had a precious baby boy. In the beginning it seems as if Armand really loved Desiree and his baby boy; until he later noticed that his baby boy was a by racial baby. Desiree cried out to the lord for hand showed him that help because her mother first and now her husband is claiming that her baby boy does not belong to her and she is not white. Deep down in her soul she knew that she was definitely white. She even compared the pigmentation of her skin color to Armand’s and proved to him that she was a lot lighter then he was. I feel that Armand was being very selfish and showing many signs of racism. It does not matter if your child is black, white, blue, or purple; it is still your child. One thing us as human beings should always remember is that when children are conceived, they don’t have a clue on what is going on and they do not make any plans to come to this world. So with that being said, Armand should have never let the color of his son’s skin cause him to end his marriage with his