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Essay on desiree baby conclusion
Stereotypical roles of men and women in literature
Essay on desiree baby conclusion
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"Desiree's Baby" is not a mere tragic short story by which a reader may be entertained by its ironic and catastrophic ending. It is a story of a crime and brutality against women of all generations to come, depicting vividly how a woman may suffer and conceal her anguish for the sake of others. It is a story of innocence slain mercilessly by the unscrupulous power of harshness that directly governs human societies.
This power which manifests itself through male supremacy is indeed very obvious throughout the entire story. It is Armand Aubigny who best represents this power, `a boy of eight' at the beginning of the story, who once sees a nameless woman fells in love with her. It is initially revealed that all the men in his family have fallen in love the same why he does `that was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot.' The femininity in the story is portrayed in a nameless girl, Desiree, who was found in `the shadow of the big stone pillar.' Armand gets married, after eighteen years, to Desiree.
In this marriage relationship, it is possible to identify the distinguishing features that make manhood very distinctive; it possesses the highest position, as it is clear that Armand is a land owner who has a vast plantation and the power. A desire of possessing things is found on him. Before he gets married to Desiree, he used to mistreat his servants, now he treats them with a supreme courtesy. Moreover, his irrationality in taking decisions led him to commit a crime; after learning that that his baby is colored, he instantly accused his wife of belonging to different race, not considering the consequences or even taking into consideration that he is going send his wife away, despite the fact that s...
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...and replied coldly that he wants her to go.
Apparently, she has no power in considering Armand's love or rejecting it, she simply has to obey. Another matter is that the name `Desiree' literally refers to sexual desire, hence she is merely a sexual object to Armand. And generally, her role in her relationship with her husband is to merely obey her husband rather than having a position to share marriage life and take decisions.
A woman is a candle in a gloomy house. She brightens the place with her cheerfulness and presence. And if she gives birth to children, the house, thus, is more brightened. In the case of Desiree, it is the same; we can observe how gloomy is the house after her departure.
What has eventually happened to Armand is the most appropriate punishment he deserves after destroying his family with rather a blind irrationality a man may has.
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.
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.
Chapin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. Concise ed. Boston: Houghton, 2004. 1522. Print.
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
He was convinced that his name is “…one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana” (Chopin 48), because of his family name. Armand took advantage of the fact that he was a owner slave and came from a family whose name was well known and he feel like a king. He’s pride was above his actual family and all he wanted was to protect the family name and history at any cost. After his boy was born, because his skin turned darker than it is supposed to be, he assumed that his wife, Desiree, is black and he asked her to leave. He felt that his pride was hurt because of the shame that his wife brought to the family name. He didn’t support that others to find the same thing and begin to discuss and make jokes about him. At this point, he started to show his real character. He felt like “…he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name” (Chopin 51). These words bring out the true feelings of Armand, that he never loved Desiree, but it was only a fleeting desire, only a lust. According to Chopin, Desiree was a beautiful girl, “For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere, - the idol of Valmonde.” (47). Armand loved Desiree only for her outward appearance, not for her character. His love for Desiree and for his son was a superficial love. He destroyed Desiree’s life and he ruined his own life as well because he lost his wife, his baby, and also, he
“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...
Kate Chopin wrote “The Father of Desiree’s Baby”, later changed to “Desiree’s Baby,” in 1892 and was first published in Vouge, a female magazine (Gilbert 9). According to Cynthia Wolff, this story has “layers of ambiguity and uncertainty” (37) about the problems that occurred in the South during the 19th century. Chopin points out the problems of race, gender, and miscegenation throughout the short story. However, the most important thing to recognize from this story is how Chopin uses structure, symbolism, and foreshadowing throughout the short story. Kate Chopin uses structure, symbolism, and foreshadowing in “Desiree’s Baby” to reveal that Desiree intertwines her identity and happiness among other characters in the story, which ends in her suffering and death.
She started to examine body. She starts screaming Armand and she makes him acknowledge their child. "Look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me “says Desiree. “It means," He answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not white replied Armand.” Desiree seems a bit frighten that her child is a little darker than usual. Armand seems a bit disturbed by the fact that the baby is not white but also that his wife is isn’t either. There is now a major issue that could reevaluate their whole relationship.
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.
Armand is shown to be a weak character by his internal conflict himself. Armand’s weakness is initially shown by the way he treats his slaves. Although there is evidence to support that Armand is a man characteristic of the time, he seems to actually have benevolent feelings towards slaves. However, he is too weak express these feelings and instead acts in a rather strict manner: “Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master’s easy-going and indulgent lifetime,” (Chopin 9). In addition to his internal conflict about treatment of slaves, this quotation tells the reader a great deal about Armand’s general weakness as an individual. Besides the fact that his forcefulness is str...
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.