Racism dates back thousands and thousands of years back to the caveman times. In the short story “Desiree’s Baby”, Kate Chopin shows how discrimination by skin color can affect people. Desiree was abandoned and raised by Madame Valmonde. Armand, the father of the baby, was a member of the most notable families in Louisiana. He falls in love with Desiree and marries her. After they have a baby, their relationship quickly corrodes. A few months later, Armand realizes the baby’s skin has a darker tint than usual. He accuses Desiree of being black. Armand tells Desiree he wants her to leave so Desiree takes the baby and “disappears among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou” (Chopin 91) and never returns. Armand finds out that Desiree is black when he reads a letter that her mother sent her that read “she belongs to the race which is cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin 92). The story’s ironic ending has a connection with the story’s setting, imagery, and Chopin’s use of similies.
The setting has a major role to the ironic ending because it takes place in antembellum South where blacks are not treated equally to whites. There are several hints at where and when the story takes place. First, Armand’s last name, Aubigny, was “one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana” (Chopin 89) which tells us it takes place in Louisiana. Also, Chopin says that Armand owns a plantation and many slaves which wouldn’t have been possible after the Civil War times showing that the story takes place during the antebellum period. The name of Armand’s plantation, L’Abri, is also ironic because it means “the shelter” in French which is ironic for Desiree because it is a bad place for her not a good place. Chopin explains how “there was something in the air menacing her peace”. The story wouldn’t take place in any other time period or location because if it did, Desiree wouldn’t be discriminated for being black, therefore wouldn’t of run of into the bayou along with the baby.
Chopin’s use of imagery leads up to the irony at the end of the story the greatest because Chopin contrasts black and white skin colors.
Shelby, T. (2002) “Is Racism in the Heart?” In G. L. Bowie, M. W. Michaels, and R. C. Solomon (Eds.), Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (479-483). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
This story is entertaining , but yet powerful at the same time. It has many themes that the audience can identify with. Some themes include love, sexual, society standards, and isolation. These themes make the book have several feelings and several interpretations. Not only themes makes the book more intense but also the use of Figurative language. Kate Chopin uses imagery, personification, metaphors, similes, syntax, and mostly symbolism. Symbolism plays an important role throughout the book because it tells the reader exactly how they feel using objects, characters, figures, and colors to represent abstract ideas
In the short story Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin, there are many examples of foreshadowing that provides the reader with insight on the events to come. Chopin constantly hints at the importance of lineage and origin which informs the readers that it will play a large part within the plot. Significant families in the South take pride in their heritage and name which are seemingly important to Armand; important enough to abandon his wife and child. In the ending, it is revealed to the readers that Armand is the one who is not completely white (Chopin 5). The story does not tell whether Armand knew the entire time or he was just finding out from reading the letter. There are many times throughout Desiree’s Baby that infers that Armand knew about where he came from before he even met Desiree.
Leading towards the end of the story, Armand builds a bonfire on the pyre. The bonfire symbolized Armand getting rid of all his memories of his wife and child. Throughout this paper I have shared Chopin’s use of symbolic elements by discussing symbols of racism, social class distinction, and the symbolic elements involving the difference between the gender roles. At the end of the story Armand reads a letter from his mom to his father. Armand finds out that his mother is from the African descent after; he has lost his marriage and family.
Chopin had also used imagery a lot. The imagery she uses gives us a look into what the characters look like, and the way that Chopin describes the love life of Edna and how she looks at Robert. “Robert’s voice was not pretentious. It was musical and true.” Chapter XIV page 40.
Throughout the years many variations of the ideas on race, class, and culture have been presented based upon different factors. In earlier times people’s views were not nearly the same as they are presented today. Ideas that women belong in the kitchen or that African-American’s were an inferior race were common. Those views were very popular during the time of Kate Chopin’s book “Desiree’s Baby.” Chopin’s book explores the controversial areas of race and class as well as touching on the subject of culture. “Desiree’s Baby” shows the life of Desiree from a young child through adulthood. The young Desiree was found by a rich family alone on the streets. Even in a time where race and social class was important the wealthy, a rich couple took in young Desiree without knowing her ancestral background. Desiree lived a good life with the family. The story then switches to when Desiree was a young adult and falls in love with Armand Aubigny. Armand also comes from a wealthy background and still falls for Desiree without knowing her racial background. Eventually, the young couple has a baby but to their surprise the baby comes out with African traits. Armand is not happy and rethinks whether she has African in her background or if maybe she had an affair with a slave. Desiree’s mother offers to have her and the baby come back and stay with them but when Desiree leaves she disappears and is never seen again. Later, Armand finds out that it may not have been Desiree that carries African roots but himself, from his mother’s side. Overall, Chopin’s work looks into the controversial issues of race, class, gender and culture using ironies and the story-line to infer the views of these topics.
“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.
“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.
He would try to stay out of the house, and when he had to be there then he would avoid both Desiree and the child with no reasoning. He also returned to his previous treatment of the slaves. After sometime, Desiree started to notice some of the features that her son had, then pieced it together with Armand’s behavior. It made her realize that her son had black in him, and due to her birth being unknown, she thought it was her. However, just to be sure, she went to Armand who told her that it had to be because of her heritage. In disbelief to this news, Desiree wrote to her mother saying that she could not live with herself if she actually was black. “Armand has told me I am not white. For God 's sake tell them it is not true” (Chopin). This reaction that Desiree had was probably a result of how ingrained in society it was that blacks were not desirable. But after that letter was sent, all she heard back from her mother was to return home. When she went to Armand to inform him that her mother wants her back home, he showed no empathy and sent her away. Armand’s name was already seen as old and full of pride. “What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?” (Chopin). He chose to keep the honor his name held then hold onto the wife and child he once
“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.
...the theme that weak individuals succumb to societal norms regardless of their own feelings. Armand shows that he is a weak character, yet there are signs that some of his beliefs are progressive. However, because of the weakness in his personality, Armand is unable to express these beliefs. Rather, he is forced to destroy something of great importance to himself simply because he is too weak to stand up for his beliefs. Through the ironic ending in which Armand discovers that he is the donor of the black gene, Chopin teaches the danger of being a weak individual: Armand is punished for his weakness by Desiree, a woman he once loved, leaving while at the same time bearing the knowledge that he is of a race that he himself hates. Chopin presents the challenge to all humans to strive for individuality and self-esteem, lest they too fall victim to their own weaknesses.
One of the first ways Chopin embodies various ironies in “The Story of an Hour” is the representation of verbal irony. Verbal irony is defined as “irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning” (“verbal irony”). This type of irony
Our world has been plagued by racism before biblical times. Two of the most inhumane outgrowths of racism are detribalization and slavery. During the nineteenth-century European Imperialism, racism led to many acts of inhumanity by Europeans, particularly in Africa. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness presents us with a fictional account of these inhumane acts in Africa illustrating that racism and its outgrowths are the most cruel examples of man's inhumanity to man.