Female Gothic Response One story that stood out to be was Desiree 's Baby because it was set up in the Southern side of the United States. This story is different from the other traditional gothic stories in class. For one, it takes back in the era of slavery in the United States, and the background of the story doesn’t fit the traditional gothic background. The stories in class were based in a place in Europe with a dark background. When reading this story, the background seemed to be bright and sunny. There wasn’t much of a dark undertone like traditional gothic stories would have, which made it slightly harder to see it as a gothic story. I guess that it’s considered to be gothic because it’s a pre-Civil War and Victorian like era to read …show more content…
How Desiree became an element of a distressed heroine is in this recent era compared to the other gothic literature is her having a baby was the cause. She was starting out to be very happy to have a child along with her husband. Until the child has some pigment showing and looking at another child besides her’s is when she realized her child is “flawed.” Since it’s during slavery and pre-Civil War times, she finally noticed that the child is part black, which put her in a hysterical state of mind. Especially when she goes over to her husband and wanted to prove to him that she is a white woman as the quote states: “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,” seizing his wrist. “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” she laughed hysterically.”
This just shows that women in the 19th century era doesn’t have much say on who she actually is. When her husband says that she as the light skinned slave, she just believed in what he says. When Armand told her to leave, she just does what she’s told to
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The passage says:
“Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore”. I see as wearing something white is like implying that someone or something is pure. The guilt that Armand had enforced into her mind made her think that she is a black person, a black soul. Then again, her wearing white made it seem like she wasn’t the one who’s at fault in the story. People who were reading the story should feel some kind sympathy for her. Especially when her mental state was taken over by the words of her husband. In the story, the passage states:
“She disappeared among the reads and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.”
Which implies that she just committed suicide so herself and perhaps her husband wouldn’t face embarrassment due to her giving birth to a part black
"White" can also be related to Tom, who is the perfect example of a racist man. He believes that black people should disappear, and is very concerned about a book he has recently read called The Rise of the Coloured Empire. He believes that white is the superior race. So, black and white are used to show how racism affected people from the high classes at that time. While riding in Gatsby´s car, Nick sees a limousine driven by a white chauffeur and ridden by black passengers, members of the high society. This shows how strongly black people fought to conquer or fulfil their so-called "American Dream", which at that time was even more difficult for black people (former slaves) than for white ones.
At one shack they lived in, Anne’s neighbors had a couple of white children, and they would play with her often in the backyard. While going to elementary school, Moody did not have a clear sense of what it meant to be black or white. She only knew people as being people. It was when she was scolded and dragged out of a mo...
During the 17th century the self-appointed superior white explorers had seen a profitable opportunity to show off their superiority by ripping away young Africans from their families and selling them into slavery solely based on their inferior seeming dark skin tone. Unjustly, based on no evidence at all, Africans such as Equiano were seen as uncivilized, barbaric, and un-human by the wealthy Europeans. Equiano in his narrative is persuading his readers to remove any injustice and discrimination against Africans that is based solely on skin color. Just because the Africans were simply unaware of European society and un aware of other cultures. The Europeans should remember that their own ancestors were once "uncivilized, and even barbarous."(insert citation). It is a common misconception that white skin tone is seen as superior, but that is far from true, the changes of our skin tone is a product of our surroundings, from Darwin’s evolutionary ideologies we can draw the conclusion that if ones ancestors trace back to hot tropical climates, their skin will be a darker tone in order to absorb more of the suns pressure that is put on ...
Although Armand truly loved Desiree, his love wasn’t stronger than protecting his family’s status. He knew from the beginning that it was he who was not white. Hoping that his child would not come out black, he still took precautions by marrying a woman with an unknown origin to put the blame on. He hated himself for what he truly was and he was not going to let anyone know his secret and have that kind of power over him. It was never Desiree’s fault and she ended up suffering when it was really Armand’s doing.
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.
Désirée’s Baby is a mid 19th century, American short story. The story takes place on two Louisiana plantations: Valmondé and L’Abri. Désirée’s Baby involves love, race, and prejudice. While reading the story it is clear that Désirée and the baby are the protagonist and Armand is the antagonist. The American short story is about Désirée who was adopted as a young girl by a wealthy Creole couple known as the Valmondé’s. She ends up falling in love with Armand who is also from a wealthy Creole family. They get married and having a child together. Désirée gives birth and three months later Armand becomes mad because he realizes the baby has dark skin. This is the start of the conflict because Désirée doesn’t understand why her husband, Armand,
In the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Tretheway the narrator opens the poem with vivid imagery about a bi-racial little girl who is trying to find her true identity between herself and others around her. She tells little lies about being fully white because she feels ashamed and embarrassed of her race and class and is a having a hard time accepting reality. The poem dramatizes the conflict between fitting in and reality. The narrator illustrates this by using a lot imagery, correlations and connotation to display a picture of lies. The narrator’s syntax, tone, irony and figurative language help to organize her conflict and address her mother’s disapproval.
Their family, specially Désirée, felt conflicted due to the color of her child’s skin and the divided country in which they were living in. Désirée was okay with her child’s skin, because she loved him unconditionally. Her husband was good at hiding it, but he eventually showed his true colors. And, even though her family didn’t show it, the child 's skin color bothered them significantly. So, tension was significant as well. The one who felt it the most was Désirée, because she was the one who gave birth to a black child. She felt rejection and hatred towards herself, specially from her husband. He thought she had African American blood running through her veins or that she had been unfaithful to him. Even if he did not think that was possible, he still saw her as impure and unclean because of his belief that African American blood ran through her
Southern Gothic is a literature that has a style all its own. It has it unique elements such as being Southern based (characters or place), then we have characters with these righteous attitudes, and then it would not be Gothic without a tragedy. Now in Wikipedia we have Southern Gothic literature being defined as “relying on supernatural, ironic or unusual events to guide the plot.” It also state that “one feature of Southern Gothic is “the grotesque” -this includes characters with a cringe-inducing quality.” The word grotesque comes up many times when defining this style of writing as Di Renzo describe it “…freaks and cripples who wear their physical and mental deformities like badges” (4). The setting in this style of writing is an eerie, or unusual place, or circumstance. So these are the things that help define Southern Gothic literature.
...physical or intellectual ability. Therefore, stereotypical women were not given much personality in Gothic stories. The woman tends to be the motivation and the hope that the readers look for after the dread and despair of the gothic literature's depressing setting. Searching for the positive is a common response from readers after experiencing the haunted castles, landscape, or buildings. Again, if there was not any optimism in the story, readers feel awkward and reject the story. These settings display the Gothic feel for the characters that enter along with the reader. Along with the scary places, the monsters or villain, also take part in setting the Gothic feel to the literature. Whether it is a vampire, witch, woman in distress, or hero with super powers, the terror and optimism is a must within the story (“Themes & Construction: Frankenstein” 2003).
The color white appeared many times throughout the book. It is used in the first chapter by Nick when he sees Daisy and Jordan in East Egg. “They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.” (Pg. 8) In this passage, white is used to describe Daisy’s and Jordan’s innocence and purity. However, in page 24 the real characteristics of Daisy are revealed, “Our white girlhood was passed together there our beautiful white”, this tells us that when Daisy was younger she was innocent, but now she has changed.
...ne major proponent that affected Aubigny’s outlook upon the African race was how his family name played in relation to the Southern culture. Another part that was analyzed was how Armand actually treated his slaves from making them forget how to be happy to him severely punishing them at the expense of his biracial child. Also in the context that his child was part African served as a catalyst for his change of heart from love to hate towards his wife which then terminated to his banishment of his wife and son. In the end of it all, the reader has seen the adverse and destructive effects that racism can have upon a select group of people and on society. From what Armand despised the most, was actually a part of him that he could never get rid of.
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.
... be part of that race. He did not want his well looked upon family name to be ruined. He was portrayed as a man who had it all. He had a reputation to keep maintained and Armand being part black would have ruined it. He owned a plantation and was a slave master. Racism did play a major role because when Armand found out that the baby was mixed everything changed such as Armand’s mood and Desiree’s happiness. She seemed to be very jolly and happy. Armand was also content. He was pleasant to the slaves. After he saw his child growing to be mixed it changed his whole attitude. He did not love the child genuinely because love is unconditional. He was more concerned about the race of the child. This was a great short story to read and it gave me insight on the importance and seriousness of our society back then. I am glad we have overcome these terrible racial matters.
These are the best elements to make a story Gothic.These gothic elements can make suspense build up to no end. Everything in this will leave you looking over your shoulder and sleeping with the lights on. In the end, they are what make a Gothic story