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Essay on “desiree’s baby”
Critical analysis of the short story desiree baby by kate chopin
Kate chopins story of an hour and desiree's baby
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Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin In Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin, Armand Aubigny, a strict and rich young man, falls in love with Desiree, a beautiful young lady with an obscure origin. After some time, Armand and Desiree got married and had a baby girl. At first, Armand was overjoyed until he noticed that the baby was developing some odd physical characteristics. He became bitter and short tempered. Oblivious to the reason behind her husband disposition, it was only until she saw her baby next to a young slave boy that she was able to identify same similarities between them. Confused and upset, Desiree rushed to her husband looking for answers but his only response was accusations and anger. Eventually, Desiree left to stay with her mother, …show more content…
The development of Armand is what drives the story forward. He starts off as a well-bred young man who sets aside society’s option to marries Desiree, a woman with a questionable background because he was so in loved with …show more content…
Then torn with guilt at mistreating his slaves who he realizes are his equal and tries to rid himself of the evidence of his sins. Hated because of his blind discuss for the slave, he decides to burn any evidence of his association and consorting with the lesser race. After he discovered the letter and found out the truth, that it was he who was not white and not Desiree, one has to wonder where all his anger will be directed at. Will his feelings for Desiree change, will he apologize to her, and feel the way he once did for his baby girl? Or will he wallow is self pity and self loathing? I’m particularly interested in weather he was planning to clear Desiree’s name or protect his own name from further damage. In the story, Desiree is the victim of prejudges, ones that she has no way to defend herself of. Desiree’s character through out the story stays pretty much the same. In the beginning she’s said to be beautiful, gentle, affectionate, and sincere and for the most part stays that way until she she gets her heart broken by Armand. Desiree becomes numb completely dead inside. She grabs her baby and leaves her home to go to her mothers. But instead of going to her mother, Desiree Disappears into the bayou with her baby and never returned
There is a lot to talk about Armand character in the short story of Desiree’s baby. In the beginning of the story, he is such a great person he loves Desiree. This quote “beautiful and gentle” shows that Armand is fall in love with her. However, his character change, when he found out that baby wasn’t white. His character of being a good husband to a cruel husband. The story clearly explains his initial character and final character. I believe he is not pitiable at all because he shows his cruelty character toward Desiree and not only that, he cares about his social standing, which motivates him. When he bought “fine clothing and layettle” this shows a symbolic object of wealth and his possession of Desiree. He wouldn’t act in a cruel way if
In the text ‘Desiree’s baby’, Desiree’s identity is impacted after she gets abandoned by her husband Armand. Before the abandonment, Desiree was loved by Armand which can be discovered in the quote ‘When he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles’. The use of simile communicates that when Armand saw Desiree, he fell in love with her at first sight. At that moment, he loved Desiree and nothing would stop his way. Soon after Armand found out that the baby is mixed race, he abandons Desiree and the baby. In the quote, ‘Do you want me to go?’ ‘Yes, I want you to go’. The dialogue communicates that Armand wants Desiree to go away or leave him which reveals that he does not love Desiree anymore. In the text, Desiree’s identity has positive to negatively changed from different events or experiences she goes through in her
Armand feels like he is the victim of betrayal by his wife Désirée. As the baby gets older it is clear that the baby is not white. Armand’s attitude quickly makes him assume that Désirée is not white giving Armand a feeling of deception. He denounces his love for Désirée and the child and casts them out of the house and his life. Désirée is stricken with grief about her treatment by Armand. She cannot believe how a man who loves her so much could treat her with such hostility and cruelty. Désirée develops a negative attitude towards herself and her baby. She is upset that she cannot change how Armand thinks of her because of her baby. This attitude causes Désirée to walk out of Armand’s life forever to her demise. Core beliefs also give to human behavior in “Samuel” and “Desiree’s
She talks about how she lost some many babies in her stomach that her husband started to wonder if she was killing them on purpose. Finally, she finds what she thinks is her final chance to have a child, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn.” (79) After losing baby after baby Marie’s hope is finally restored by finding a child in the street. Although this baby is found to be dead later, the idea of having a kid brings joy to her tragic situation. She is uplifted and overjoyed after feeling remorse from her miscarriages. Once Marie realises the baby is dead she decides to bury it. The pool man catches her, accuses her of witchcraft and alerts the police. While waiting to be arrested Marie is not indulging the thought of being locked away, instead she is imagining something better, “We made a pretty picture standing there. Rose, me, him. Between the pool and the gardenias, waiting for the law.” (96) Marie will most likely be in confinement for the rest of her life for a false accusation but rather than dwelling on it, she pictures this happy family in front of her. Although this situation suggests she’s hitting rock bottom, hope and beauty is still
Women were supposed to bring their husbands and children to the light of God. Desiree’s husband Armand was humiliated and ashamed when he realized his son was mixed with a race that was “cursed with the brand of slavery”. His way of getting “back at God for dealing cruelly with him” was through hurting his wife, showing that
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:
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.
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.
The story begins with the narrator speaking of Desiree, and how she was found lying asleep, next to the property entrance. It was evident that she was abandoned; there were assumptions of who might have possibly left the small infant child. The story line took place in Louisiana. During the particular time era, and in this region, large plantations were very common, slavery too. The family who found Desiree was plantation owners an...
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,
It was already made clear multiple times throughout the story how Desiree felt about all the changes that were occurring. She was miserable and saw no point in living. After knowing that, it is easy to infer that she chose to drown herself and her child, rather than going home to her mother. A few weeks after leaving, Armand holds a large bonfire in his yard burning all the belongings of Desiree’s and the baby’s. Everything from clothing, to the crib the baby slept in, to the early letters that were exchanged between the two of them before marriage. Among those letters, was one from his mother to his father. The letter explains why she left, stating she was happy to be away because it meant that Armand would grow up not knowing that his mother was actually black. The fact that Armand had this letter in his possession means that he knew for some time the truth of his heritage. However, to keep from harming his name, he led Desiree to believe that she was the black parent, which led to her untimely demise.
“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.
Sethe, as the protagonist in the novel, serves as one of the main characters who undergoes one of most difficult changes, leaving her wondering what purpose she serves in this lifetime. Serving as a slave in Sweet Home, she grew to be self-loathing due to the treatment and events that occurred. The abuse that she had suffered was awful but compared to how the “schoolteacher’d wrap that string all over my head, ‘cross my nose, around my behind. Number my teeth,” (Morrison 226), it was unbearable. She was treated like an experiment, a farm animal who had to have measurements taken. She was described as having animal characteristics “you got two feet...not four,” (Morrison 194) that only made her feel less human. Her children are the only inspiration that keep...
She shows Armand this and he send her away so she takes the baby and leaves but instead of going home she disappears and is never found. Later When Armand is burning desiree belongs he discovers a letter