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. Chopin establishes the inferiority of African-Amer... ... middle of paper ... ... of race, class, gender and culture were very important in that time and Chopin makes sure to address those issues. Whenever someone reads a book, they can look further into the story and find a great deal of the ideas and beliefs of people of that time. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. Desiree's Baby. Voices Among Women. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 93-98. Print. "Culture." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. Korb, Rena. "Critical Essay on 'Désirée's Baby'." Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 01 Mar. 2014. Toth, Emily. "Kate Chopin and Literary Convention: 'Désirée's Baby,'." in Southern Studies 20.2 (Summer 1981): 201-208. Rpt. in Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
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.
“Désirée ’s Baby” is a mix feelings story. It is an intriguing, captivating, and sad short story which reflects her experience among the French creoles in Louisiana (Chopin). I used “sad”, because it shows the level of hatred the white has towards black. The story is about two two families in Louisiana: the Valmonde and the L’ Abri. The story focuses on human relationships; the lives and characters of both family members are subtly portrayed in comparison. The story tells about love, slavery, and racism. Hypocrisy of patriarchal society, gender conflicts, and injustice of racial prejudice are depicted in the story. In the story, racism victimizes everybody without equivalent consequence. The story is heaped with ironies. The narrator uses symbolism and irony to convey the themes of half-blood, racial hatred, unequal gender roles, and social ladder. Irony and symbolism are also used to enhance the story, captivating the minds of the reader until the very end.
This makes us think that she he had been abandoned at a very young age
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.
When grown into young womanhood she is as beautiful and charming as she has always been. In addition, she loves easily and without judgementalism. At the end of the short story, Chopin describes a scenery where Desiree is bound to drown her baby and herself. This portrays Desiree as courageous due to the fact that she wouldn’t put up with society’s criticism just because of her child’s complexion. Meanwhile Curley’s wife is lonely. She exploits her power as the Boss' son's wife to threaten others and seeks company from the other ranch men by constantly coming to the bunk house under the pretense of looking for Curley when ironically, she wants to get away from him. Family wise, Curley’s wife had a bad relationship with her mother at such a young age, resulting in her becoming homeless after she leaves the home of her mother. She then meets Curley and marries him, to her convenience of shelter and food making her dependent and putting up with the men in the novel discriminating her just because of her
In the short story “A Desiree’s Baby,” a child dropped off while individuals pass on by grows up to marry Armand Aubigny, after a woman that goes by the name of Madame Valmonde takes her in as her own. The purpose of the story is based off on a child that belongs to a woman named Desiree and a man named Armand. However, as their child begins to grow something odd begins to draw attention to Armand. The author’s point in this story is to describe the understanding of racism and discrimination in Louisiana.
Chopin shows, through symbolism, how racism created by society can break up a family. For instance, the bonfire Armand builds to burn everything that reminds him of the baby symbolizes anger and the loss of love. When Desiree comes out to find that “in the centre of the smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire… [filled with] silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones”, she sees that Armand racism has taken over thoughts, and that anger is the only thing on his mind (4). The bonfire symbolizes anger because it is raging with the passion of Armand’s anger toward his situation, and the bonfire is created by fear, just as anger is. This bonfire not only symbolizes anger, but it can represent how society’s thoughts of differing race in a family forces Armand lose his baby and other loved ones. In other words, by giving into society’s racism, Armand loses the most important thing: love. Another example of the use of symbolism in “Desiree’s Baby”, is the letter written about Armand’s mother and her race. When Armand creates his bonfire, the last thing that he threw in is a letter from his mother to his father that reads: “our dear Armand will never know that his mother…belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (4). Similar to his baby, Armand’s mother is African-American, and Armand and society has done their best to make sure both of their identities are shunned and secretive. This letter symbolizes the lengths that people will go to keep what society considers unideal a secret. Since Armand’s mother thinks it is so important to have Armand as an accepted member of society, their relationship loses its honesty and sincerity. In conclusion, Chopin uses symbolism to show how sticking to society’s ideals huts loved ones and destroy the integrity of
During the nineteenth century, Chopin’s era, women were not allowed to vote, attend school or even hold some jobs. A woman’s role was to get married, have children
In the fictional story “Desiree’s Baby”, written by Kate Chopin, a man called Armand Aubigny falls for a nameless girl and later decides to make her his wife. Armand is part of one of the oldest and proudest families in Louisiana; therefore, his reputation must be held with high regard. When Desiree and Armand bring a child into the world and the baby is of color it was assumed that Desiree was of mixed blood ;yet, in the end it was Armand all along. The fact that Desiree was an orphaned girl with a race that as unknown foreshadows the theme of self-worth based on skin color, and the drastic measures one takes to convince themselves of a false identity that seems better than reality to develop an engaging plot
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,
This essay will focus on the short story by Kate Chopin and its use of symbols, setting and characters. Desiree’s baby was perhaps one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Analyzing it was not easy at all. Its use of symbols was very hard to comprehend. At first, it doesn’t make sense. But as you think critically, all the symbols, and setting and the characters in this literature plunge together in one amazing story.
Kate Chopin went an entrancing living bombarded with difficult occasions situations, moreover situations with brilliant adversity. Living in the south with slavery time the placing and activities of her living could have an extraordinary effect on the matters of her constructed work. Chopin began published work act as a strategy to state her discontent with life. Here is the purpose of her thoughts about living are handed down questionably work. Certainly one of her small stories, "Desire Baby," is a phenomenal and extraordinary taste of how Chopin's living inspired her composition. Conceived initially Katherine O'Flaherty, born on the 8th of February in 1850 residing in St. Louis, Missouri to Mr. and Mrs. O'Flaherty. The household she was
Chopin, Kate. Complete Novels and Stories. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert. New York: Library of America, 2002. Print.
“Desiree’s Baby”, written by Kate Chopin, takes place in the late 1800s, during a time of class and racial conflict. The story highlights just where blacks stood in society by sharing the treatment that blacks got as slaves, as well as the pride that the white citizens have over themselves. Blacks were typically seen in a much lower tier then their white counter parts, and to have them both on the same level is unfathomable. “Desiree’s Baby” uses pride to show that people tend to care more about themselves and aren’t who they say they are.
In “Desiree’s’ Baby” Chopin illustrates slavery and racial issues in the 19th century. In the plot of the story it shows Armand being a wealthy owner of a plantation, with slaves. Through irony and foreshadowing, Chopin shows the treatment that was done by Armand to the workers because they were of color, and with his family because they are not the same.