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In the mid-nineteenth century, many American men based the worth of a person primarily on his or her race and gender. Kate Chopin often wrote about topics that were extremely sensitive during her lifetime. Men were usually pictured as the person who earns money for the family, as well as the well-educated and the sole structure of the family. Women are illustrated as sensitive, sweet, caring, and faithful. In “Desiree’s Baby,” a short story by Kate Chopin, there are three major themes: identity, racism, and gender roles. Kate Chopin was an American author and short story writer. She is considered among the most vital ladies in nineteenth-century American fiction. She was born on Feb. 8, 1851, in St. Louis, Missouri, and died there on Aug. Desiree is a lady who completely relied on her husband for any type of support. Desiree became powerless when Armand rejected her and the child when he noticed the infant’s change in skin color. Without having Armand in Desiree's life, she had low self-esteem and did not have the will to live anymore. For the most part there was a large amount of racism in the story as well as the feeling that ladies too are not equivalent to men. In “Desiree’s Baby,” a short story by Kate Chopin, there were three major themes: identity, racism, and gender roles. Armand has demonstrated his actual true character. He was a coldblooded, one-sided, and non caring man who was not worthy of Desiree and her kid. Armand broke his marriage promise to Desiree and his parental obligation due to his prejudgment toward the child's race. Chopin also noted a lady’s place in marriage in the mid-nineteenth century. They had nothing to do with money related transactions, political, or social issues. Everything had its place with the man including the
During the nineteenth century, Chopin’s era, women were not allowed to vote, attend school or even hold some jobs. A woman’s role was to get married, have children
Chopin and Freeman were both writers of equality. They both envisioned a life where both sexes existed equally; men and women were not more than the other was but rather played on the same field, together as one. Chopin used this in her writing “Désirée’s’s Baby.” She touched on equality within races, not placing each character as an individual by race but rather an individual by a person. She hinted in her writing that there may have been a slight skin difference
In 'Desiree?s Baby,' Chopin illustrates her idea of the relationship between men and women by portraying Desiree as vulnerable and easily affected, whereas Armand is presented as superior and oppressive. Throughout ?Desiree?s Baby,? Kate Chopin investigates the concept of Armand's immense power over Desiree. At first, Desiree tries to conform to the traditional female role by striving to be an obedient wife. Later in the story, this conformity changes after Desiree gives birth to her part-black son.
This author was born Katherine (Kate) O’Flaherty Chopin in February of 1850 to a father of Irish descent and a Creole (French settlers of the southern United States, esp. Louisiana) mother (Guilds 293). Chopin was a bicultural mixture of strength. Due to measures beyond her control, she grows up in a life surrounded by strong willed women. These ladies were passionate women Chopin loved and respected; her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. They each added their individual spice of life to a brew of pure womanhood. Thus, seasoning a woman that would become one of the most influential, controversial female authors in American history. Kate Chopin created genuine works exposing the innermost conflicts women of the late 1800’s were experiencing. The heroines of her fictional stories were strong, yet confused, women searching for a meaning behind the spirit that penetrated their very souls.
In the story of “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, there are many literary themes that can be analyzed such as love, racism, gender inequality, and miscegenation. What this analysis will focus on is primarily on the central male character, Armand Aubigny, and on his views towards racism. More specifically, what this essay will aim to prove is that Armand Aubigny looked down upon the African race to the point where he hated them. One of the biggest driving points to aid this idea is how his family name shaped his behavior and actions according to the societal normalities of his time period. Another important aspect that will be considered is his very relationship towards his slaves in how he treated them cruelly even to the point where he is described as “having the spirit of Satan” (Chopin 3). In addition to this, the reader will also see Armand’s negative reaction to being aware of the implications of his son and wife having mixed blood in where he practically disowns them. With all this culminating to Armand finding out the ugly truth that the race he had treated so horribly is actually a part of his very own blood as well.
In “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin writes about the life of a young lady and her new family. In this short story, the fond couple lived in Louisiana before the American Civil War. Chopin illustrates the romantic atmosphere between Armand and Desiree. Chopin also describes the emotion of the parents for their new born. When the baby was born, Armand’s heart had softened on behalf of others. One afternoon, Desiree and the baby were relaxing in a room with a young boy fanning them with peacock feathers. As they were relaxing, Desiree had sniffed a threatening scent. Desiree desired Armand’s assistance as she felt faint from the odor that she could not comprehend. Armand had denied the request his wife sent. Therefore, he cried out that she nor the baby were white. Thus, Desiree took the baby and herself and walked into the bayou and they were never seen again. In this short story, Chopin illustrates the psychological abuse Desiree faces from her husband.
With an author ahead of her time, Kate Chopin challenged the ideas of how women should be seen socially. Chopin frankly portrays women as emotional, intelligent and sexual beings. While it might seem that Chopin offers positive examples of female characters, in actuality they are complicated, messy and ultimately negative. All of her main female character seem to experience self-awareness, something very important at that time period because while women had feelings and thoughts, they weren't recognized by society, these feelings of independence and discovery are often temporary, still bound to social limitations. In some cases, it requires the Chopin brings attention to women's internal struggles with themselves and who they are told to be in a society that dismisses female autonomy, she doesn't do anything to solve or change them. It often appears that there is a choice between being independent or being married because identity is often lost in marriage and characters are unable to find a balance, making the characters hopeless.
This article gives biographical information on author Kate Chopin. She was born on July 12, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, to a French Creole mother and an Irish father. In her short career, Chopin published two novels and two collections of short stories; a number of stories remained unpublished at her death and some of them are included in the book The Complete Works.
“Tell me what it means!” she cried despairingly.” It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin, p. 192). Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" is a well-known short story. “In her life, Kate Chopin actively searched for female spiritual emancipation and expressed it in her writing”(Deter, 2000). Throughout the story, Kate Chopin uses symbolism to convey her themes of racial predisposition, unequal gender roles, and social ladder in a society. The characters and the setting in this short story help provide the readers with more understanding of how patriarchal our society is at that time.
Kate Chopin was one of the most influential nineteenth century American fiction writers. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri on either one of three dates: February 8, 1851, February 8, 1850, or July 12, 1850, depending on the source. She once said that she was born in 1851, but her baptismal certificate states February 8, 1850 as her birthday (Inge, 2). There is also an indiscretion regarding the spelling of her name. Her full name is Katherine O’Flaherty Chopin, but one source spells her first name with a ‘C’ (Katherine, 1). Her father, Thomas O’Flaherty, was an Irish immigrant who became a successful merchant in St. Louis. Her mother, Eliza Faris O’Flaherty, came from a wealthy aristocratic Creole family (Inge, 2). Kate Chopin was a student at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Louis. Here she learned the Catholic teachings and great intellectual discipline. She graduated from this French school in 1868 (Inge, 2). On June 9th in 1870, she married Oscar Chopin. Together the couple had six children: Jean (1871), Oscar (1873), George (1874), Frederick (1876), Felix (1878), and Lelia (1879) (Inge, 3).
Kate Chopin is very well known for her extremely unique writing. Not only are her works striking of feminism, but the way she approached topics were not easily tolerated at that time especially for her gender. Many of her stories tie into marriage and the unhappiness that it brings. In Desiree’s Baby Chopin says, “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him…” Comparing the woman’s husband to that of Satan shows the intensity of disgust between the two in the relationship. Strong statements such as these are often seen in “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour.” In Chopin’s life she was married, and her stories lead me to believe that she viewed her marriage as a trap and suffered from lack of privacy and control. Despite how provoking Chopin’s works were she was long ignored by readers and critics until her stories hit the surface in the 1960’s and became more popular. The women in her stories are constantly seeking freedom, lust, and attention.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” tries to shed light on the conflict between women and a society that assigns gender roles using a patriarchal approach. Specifically, Margaret Bauer highlights, that most of Chopin’s works revolve around exploring the “dynamic interrelation between women and men, women and patriarchy, even women and women” (146). Similarly, in “The Story of an Hour” Chopin depicts a society that oppresses women mostly through the institution of marriage, as women are expected to remain submissive regardless of whether they derive any happiness. The question of divorce is not welcome, and it is tragic that freedom for women can only be realized through death. According to Bauer, the society depicted in Chopin’s story judged women harshly as it expected women to play their domestic roles without question, while on the other hand men were free to follow their dreams and impose their will on their wives (149).
In her story, Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin underlined the contrast between lust and love, exploring the problem of a man’s pride that exceeded the love he has for his wife. Armand, the main character of the story, is a slave owner who lived in Louisiana during the era of slavery. He married an adopted young woman, Desiree, and together they have a son who eventually became an obstacle in the way of his father’s happiness, thus removing out the true character of Armand. Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin is a love story, love that ultimately proved to be a superficial love, a story that shed light on the ugly relationships between people. “Lust is temporary, romance can be nice,
This story is more on the racist side other than being enslaved in marriages. Even though is more on the racist side you can connect it with Kate Chopin Common theme. The story is mainly about a married white couple who haves a black child. Again at this time period there is still a lot of slavery going on, so the husband blames the wife, Desiree, for being black since she was originally adopted. After the husband finds out that there’s a possibility that his wife have black heritage in her. “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child” (Chopin). Here in this part of the story Chopin shows how was Desiree being mistreated once the husband found out she might be black. Not only does it proves the rights of women and was it disobeyed but also proves how the time period the story takes place. What I’m trying to prove is that Kate Chopin common theme is women rights and their role in marriages at her time era, it shows all her stories are taken place around the same generation. “Desiree was happy when she had the baby and Armand was as happy and nice to the slaves then before but after he saw his child growing to be mixed it changed his whole attitude” (Griffin). This shows how the story takes place during slavery time, since the husband had
There were more clues to unpack than expected but once I realized the writing style of Kate Chopin I enjoyed reading each sentence to pick out the hidden meaning. Xuding Wang’s essay was helpful seeing what I could not see on my own. The point that grabbed me out of Wang’s essay was the critic, Berkove, whom as I mentioned earlier in this analysis seemed to be the same blockade to women that Chopin wrote about in 1894. To know the character in the story you must know the writer. Kate Chopin was called a rebel in her time. Her stories were a call to action by women and to go as far as Berkove did and call those ideas delusional make him seem out dated and controlling. I can only experience what I do in life. I’ll never understand challenges faced by people of other races, cultures, or sex. Reading the original story and another woman’s discussion on it was very enlightening. There were emotions described that I’ve never considered. With a critic like Berkove using language as he did in the critique against Chopin’s work it makes me curious just how far our society has come. Racism is still alive and well, religious persecution and in this story, sexism. It seems to me that the world has never really changed and will continue to bring with it the same problems as the days