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Desiree's baby essay on racism
Desiree's baby kate chopin analyse
Desiree's baby kate chopin analyse
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The story of Desiree’s baby was written by Kate Chopin. In Desiree’s baby, Kate Chopin offers a compelling critique of the class-based and racial prejudice. The story is about a young lady named Desiree who was abandoned with an uncertain future. Desiree was found by Madame Valmonde who adopted her as her own. Madame Valmonde and Mr. Valmonde was not bless with any children of their own they took Desiree and raise her as their own.
The story was written in 1892, which was the twenty-seven years after slavery was abolished but it took place during the time of slavery. Desiree was abandoned at a very young age, she was nameless, and she had no future ahead of her. But all that changed when Madame Valmonde and her husband discovered her in front
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At the age of eighteen Desiree met a man name Armand Aubigny who fell in love with her the first time he saw her and later married her. Armand was a slave master who was proud of his family name, to Armand his name was everything. Armand rule were strict, under it his slave had forgotten how to be happy. Armand must have made them very unhappy and treated them harshly. Armand home is described as sad looking and really quite. Armand is portrayed as the man who had it all throughout this story, he was a men with a lot of pride. Armand thought because he came from a family whose name was well-known in Louisiana, he used his family as another way to get power, respect, to make him feel like a king besides being a slave owner. He thought that’s the only way he can protect his family name. Armand marry Desiree without knowing any of her backgrounds. They later had a baby boy, Armand was excited about starting a family with the woman he love. Armand was happy he even started treating his slaves different when Desiree had the …show more content…
She was excited about the future of her baby and her husband. Desiree love the fact that she was able to give Armand a baby especially a baby boy. Everything was going smooth for Desiree and her husband for a period of time. But then the unexpected happened after three months the baby skin color starts to look darker. Armand went from being a happy beloved husband to an evil men, neither him nor Desiree could understand what was happening. Armand was furious he felt like he no longer loved Desiree because of the unconscious injury she had bought upon his home and his family name. By “unconscious injury” Armand refers to is the lost memory he feels like his wife has lost of her ethnicity. Armand did not want anything to destroy what he was well known for “a slave owner”. Desiree ask Armand if he wanted her and the baby to leave the house, Armand response was “yes leave”. When Desiree heard those words her whole world was shattered because the only person she ever loved was Armand, and Armand no longer loved her. Kate Chopin describe how race played a major part in people lives in the mid-1800s. racism play a major role in this story because when it was found out that the baby was mixed everything changes such as Desiree happiness and Armand mood. Armand was happy and nice to the slaves when Desiree had the baby then he saw his child growing mixed that changes his whole
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
“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.
The short story suggests that Brently Mallard dominated his wife – and for this, she is not happy, and dies soon after. Desiree’s Baby also represents women’s lack of power and male dominance in the society. When Desiree’s mother tells her to come home, based on Armand’s reaction to having a child the same color as a slave, Desiree has to seek approval of her husband to leave. This shows his control over their relationship and his power over Desiree.
As you continue to read this short story you realize that Armand is an arrogant man who is passionate and very proud of his families status and accomplishments, yet despite advancements in the freeing of the slaves, he remains a racist . Armand believes what Ellen Peel the author of “Semiotic subversion in “Desiree’s Baby” realized. The social ranks that ...
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.
... 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.
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
“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.
She also has to struggle as a woman in a society that sees the people of her sex as mindless objects that are only useful for domestic duties and for the sexual pleasure of men. Her position as a slave only amplified this dehumanization. Within “Désirée’s Baby,” the following line, “‘And the way he cries,’ went on Désirée, ‘is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche’s cabin,’” (Chopin 2) implies that Armand and La Blanche have a sexual relationship. While this already hints as the first cracks in Désirée’s and Armand’s marriage, it speaks horrifying volumes considering that La Blanche is a slave with Armand as her master, whose interactions with his slaves were previously described as violent and barbaric. Relating the story to its historical context, slave women were often the target of their masters’ sexual advances and abuse, in which noncompliance could result in ferocious beatings or other severe forms of punishment. Essentially, black women would become concubines to their white masters and were expected to satiate his every desire, regardless of the girl’s age, marital status, or consent (“Master-Slave Relations). With this in mind, Armand’s implied sexual relationship with La Blanche is one where he has all the power and she does not have the option to even say no if she wanted to. Whether or not the relationship is consensual
Maloney felt betrayed because of what her husband had told her. In “Desiree’s baby,” it states “But, above all, Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery..” This statement supports the fact that Armand was very upset because his mother had never told him his mother was a slave and the he was her son. Armand and Mrs. Maloney both were betrayed by people who they loved the most and were not aware of their actions before they found out how they were
That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot…The passion that awoke in his that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like everything that drives headlong over all obstacles.”(47). Most often, such love does not last, it is like a fire that ignite some dry straw but it is consumed very quickly. The true love was the one between Armand’s father and his wife, which was of black race. To be with her, he left his plantation and his important name in Louisiana and went to live in France, a land foreign to him, just to offer an easier life to his wife, “But, above all, she wrote, “night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.” (Chopin 52). To show his love for Desiree and their baby, Armand could do the same thing his father did many years ago, but his attitude towards Desiree looks like in fact his love was just one who pass away went something wrong happened in their life, when life 's challenges arise. The true love is when you can’t live without another person, when his/her happiness is your happiness, “This was what made
“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.
Armand becomes furious because he believes that Desiree?s race is what alters the color of the baby. After that incident, Armand displ...
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.
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