Desiree's Baby Sexism

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Library Assignment: Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “Désirée’s Baby”
By Marcello Mennone

Kate Chopin’s short story “Désirée’s Baby” takes place on a plantation in mid-19th-century Louisiana. ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY. The story illustrates the prevalence of sexism and racism by observing the interactions between husband, and wife, parent and child.

The primary theme, racism, illustrated white perceptions of black inferiority in the pre-civil war era in Southern Louisiana. Racism was a distasteful matter that caused Armand and his parents to act feel remorse, disgrace, and distress about their identities. Without ethnic bias and the dishonor it created, the story’s tragedy would never have happened. Armand’s mother, wrote a letter to his father …show more content…

This is shown when Armand condemned Désirée and his child when their child presented to be a mixed-race child and thought Désirée was of Negro race. Désirée was still the same person Armand fell in love with and brightened his life. However, her supposed racial heritage caused Armand to reject her and the baby and dismiss her as the woman he loved. Instead he saw her as simply black and consequently less than him. As a result, Désirée rejected herself and her baby out of shame, and walked into the bayou with her baby to kill herself and the …show more content…

The plot began to develop immediately when a hurt captain of the boat, an oiler named Billie, a correspondent, and a cook found themselves stranded on a small lifeboat after their ship sinks off the coast of Florida. The injured captain spotted a light in the distance, which was a lighthouse, and so they rowed towards the lighthouse. However, because the waves were strong, they could not reach land and the captain decided for the crew to pull back into the open sea. After drifting, they tried to row toward the island and saw a crowd of people waving to them on the land. The waves were too much for the crew to overcome, still they attempted one last time to make it to shore as the captain realized the boat would not be able to sustain them for much longer. As they rowed toward the shore, the boat began to sink and all of the crew jumped

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