Growing up within a household full of women, writer Kate Chopin could attest to the extreme difference it is to be considered independent vs dependent, as a woman. Accordingly, a theme of feminism and independence was apparent within her writings. However, in her short story, Desiree’s baby, she chooses to do something different. Instead of using independence as a theme, in the favor of women, Kate Chopin greets readers with a socioeconomic difference between main characters, Desiree and Armand. When considering this short story, with the Marxist criticism, a reader may even notice that Kate Chopin’s characters demonstrate economical differences (i.e. class and status) to overall argue how ones social status and economic class leads to mental illness of the lowly and the elite. According to the Encyclopedia of Women’s Health, education is the most popular indicator of high socioeconomic status. This means that having an education yields being capable of intellect in order to manage situations with ease. With that being said, in Desiree’s baby, do readers see any hint of Desiree being well educated as opposed to Armand who traveled and learned with his father? At one point Chopin wrote, “When she could hold a pen in her hand…” this specific line could be argued as to say that Desiree was distressed from learning of her husband’s accusation of her that she had to collect herself, this is true. However, it’s the dialect that was chosen for Desiree that tells readers that the character is of low social status, “…I cannot be so unhappy, and live.” This line presents itself with immaturity as to suggest that no, she did not have proper intellect to handle such situation maturely. But what does Chopin mean by ‘live’? Is she referring... ... middle of paper ... ...n being completely real about it, the characters Desiree and Armand, were only human. They were just written with dramatic circumstances that eventually led them to their death, mentally. Works Cited Shahab, Lion "Socioeconomic Status and Health." Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 8 May 2014. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/05/ "Mental Illness and Poverty." Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 8 May 2014. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2005/03/low-ses.aspx http://www.journalbipolardisorders.com/content/1/1/9 COLABIANCHI, NATALIE "Socioeconomic Status." Encyclopedia of Women's Health. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 8 May 2014.
People living in areas such as Playford, has shown to have a lower socioeconomic position, which made them at highest risk of poor health (WHO, 2017). Then, the social determinants of health support the understanding the difference between populations health levels, but also the reasons behind why some groups are healthier than others (Marmot, 2005) and the issue becomes a little bit deeper as people living in different areas related to others differently, so then the social stratification of health is affected by differences in gender, marital status, residential areas and ethnicity (Elstad,
Ubiquitous throughout history and across cultures is the concept of rich versus poor. Almost all people fall on a spectrum moving from poverty to affluence. A person’s position on this spectrum is labeled by sociologists as their socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status, often abbreviated as SES, is measured by a person’s income, education, and career. Socioeconomic status is a pinnacle factor in a person’s life, affecting their lifestyle, relationships, and even, as with Dick and Perry, criminal potential. Low socioeconomic status has been shown to correlate with chronic stress, education inequality, and a variety of health problems including hypertension,
Wilkinson, R. G., & Marmot, M. G. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts.
“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.
Wilkinson, R. M. (2003). Social determinants of health - the solid facts. [S.l.]: World Health Organization.
Social determinants of health have attracted the attention of governments, policy makers and international health organisations over the last three decades (Hankivsky & Christoffersen 2008). This is because social conditions which people are born in, live and work play an important role in their health outcomes (WHO 2015). According to Kibesh (1200) social determinants drive health disparities, disrupts the human developmental process and undermine the quality of life and opportunities for people and families (ref). Thus, several theories have been developed over the years to provide in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and to reduce health inequalities (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). However, there is still significant
Armand becomes furious because he believes that Desiree?s race is what alters the color of the baby. After that incident, Armand displ...
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.
“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.
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,
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.
In Kate Chopin’s short story, “Desiree’s Baby”, she demonstrates how racism played a major part in people’s lives in the 1800’s. Kate Chopin is extremely successful in getting her readers to feel disturbed by the events in the story. Through words and images, the reader feels touched by the story, either by relating to it at some points or when confronted with things we frequently decide to ignore in the world: the evil some human beings are capable of possessing.
During “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, women were viewed as the property of their husbands and possessed very little influence in society; responsible for keeping their house in prime condition, doting over their children, and being the perfect well-behaved housewives. In the age in which the book was written; the end of the 19th century, the upper-class women were expected to be unemployed and were not allowed to vote; if they were to go outside of societal norms they were looked at with disdain. The novel gave a very precise account of a woman’s role in society and the burdens she faced because of the overwhelming pressure of her peers.
Nettleton, S. (2006). Social Inequalities and Health Status. In N. S, Sociology of Health and Illness (pp. 169-202). Cambridge: Polity Press.