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Stereotypes based on race
African american stereotypes history
Racial stereotypes and their effects on society
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Recommended: Stereotypes based on race
Stories about the tragic mulatto have conjured feelings of anger, racism, and sympathy since the 19th century. In Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree plays the role of the tragic mulatto. This is a person who believes they are white, but finds out that they are actually black. There are three categories of the tragic mulatto and often they are female. The first is a woman fair enough to pass for white. She falls in love with a white man, but her mixed identity is revealed and the story ends dreadfully. The second is a woman who appears white and hides her “mixed race status” by lying. She’s accepted as being European or Spanish. Once her identity is found out, she loses her place in the community. Lastly is a woman who is accepted and liked socially, but once her Black heritage is recognized, she is forced into slavery and is sexually dominated by her slave master. Desiree is a racial stereotype in the story because her ancestry is unknown. Peel states that “Desiree casts doubt on the meaning of race, sex and class” (Peel 223). Solely based on her looks, she is assumed white and adopted by a white family. When Armand, her husband, interprets their baby’s appearance, he assumes that “the child and the mother are not white” (225). Her missing identity forces her to act as the tragic mulatto. Racial identity is determined by family history where the assumption of race is through skin color.
The story takes place in an “antebellum Creole community ruled by institutions based on apparently clear dualities: master over the slave, white over black, and man over woman” (224). The South was marked with a racial system known as the “one drop- rule”, which meant that “any person with one drop of black blood was deemed black...
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...His whole life he thought he knew himself. In the end Desiree is the more tragic mulatto. She is white but plays the role as a mulatto and kills herself along with the baby.
Works Cited
Shen, Dan. "Implied Author, Overall Consideration, And Subtext Of "Désirée's Baby.." Poetics Today 31.2 (2010): 285. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Chopin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby .” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2014.
Pegues, Dagmar. "Fear And Desire: Regional Aesthetics And Colonial Desire In Kate Chopin's Portrayals Of The Tragic Mulatta Stereotype." Southern Literary Journal 43.1 (2010): 1. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Peel, Ellen. "Semiotic Subversion In 'Désirée's Baby'." American Literature 2 (1990): 223. JSTOR Arts & Sciences I. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. A Norton Critical Edition: Kate Chopin: The Awakening. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 3-109.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Anthology of American Literature. Volume II: Realism to the Present. Ed. George McMichael. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 697-771.
“Desiree’s Baby” can represent a timeframe status of how slavery and race were a factor that defined people. Armand was very ambiguous by the tone he would had towards Desiree and by his action. Desiree was faithful to her husband, in the other hand we are able to understand or presumed that La Blanche’s boy looked very alike as Desiree’s baby, which most likely Armand might be the father of both kids. Armand was in love at first, but then his pride and ambiguous.
Pegues, Dagmar. "Fear And Desire: Regional Aesthetics And Colonial Desire In Kate Chopin's Portrayals Of The Tragic Mulatta Stereotype." Southern Literary Journal 43.1 (2010): 1-22. Humanities International Complete. Web. 19 Dec. 2013.
164-69. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 341. Detroit: Gale, 2013.Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 5 May 2014.
Chopin, Kate. "Desiree's Baby." The Awakening and Other Stories. Ed. Judith Baxter. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.
“Desiree Baby” by Kate Chopin is a very thought provoking short story that deals with racism, prejudice, and love. The story takes place in southern Louisiana, where Armand, a prominent landowner, marries a girl of unknown origin named Desiree. The story has a twist when their baby is born and is discovered to be of mixed race. Armand knew all along that he was OF mixed race, and I will prove it by analyzing characterization, diction, and imagery.
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.
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.
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. "Un-Utterable Longing: The Discourse of Feminine Sexuality in The Awakening." Studies in American Fiction 24.1 (Spring 1996): 3-23. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 May 2014.
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,
“Desiree’s Baby”, written by Kate Chopin, takes place in the late 1800s, during a time of class and racial conflict. The story highlights just where blacks stood in society by sharing the treatment that blacks got as slaves, as well as the pride that the white citizens have over themselves. Blacks were typically seen in a much lower tier then their white counter parts, and to have them both on the same level is unfathomable. “Desiree’s Baby” uses pride to show that people tend to care more about themselves and aren’t who they say they are.
“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 was a slave.
Throughout time, humans struggled with issues of conformity and individuality. In the modern world, individuality is idealized, as it is associated with strength. Weak individuals are usually portrayed as conforming to society and having almost no personal ideas. In “Desiree’s Baby”, a short story, the author Kate Chopin deals with the struggles of African descendants in the French colonies during the time of slave labor. The protagonist is a white woman named Desiree who is of unknown origin and birth as she was found abandoned as an infant at an aristocrat’s doorstep. Eighteen years after her discovery, she and a fellow aristocrat, Armand Aubigny, fall in love and get married. They soon have a child, yet conflict arises when the child is discovered to be black. The young family is destroyed when the baby’s father, Armand, refuses to accept the child. In “Desiree’s Baby”, Chopin demonstrates through Armand’s conflicts how weak humans conform to environmental norms.