Theme Of Desiree's Baby And Trespass

In the stories, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin and “Trespass” by Julia Alvarez, the plot mainly revolves around race issues and also includes sexism. In relations of race the difference between being white or black or Hispanic shows a vital importance in the characters’ lives through the stories. As Desiree and Armand both originally associate themselves with the white people, once the plot unveils their black inheritance they are faced with uncertainty, and eventually their lives become meaningless and not worth living. Similarly, in “Trespass”, Carla was being made fun of at her school because of her race. She was a Hispanic in a white society and it weighed on her. The stories also show the persuasive nature of racism. Desiree’s life

Symbolism is used to associate the color white with positivity and all the other races with negativity. Desiree and Armand both find happiness in their lives as established white individuals, but when things take a turn and they are associated with coming from black inheritance, all of the meaning their lives once had is vanished. This diffusion of racism in “Desiree’s Baby” shows its destructive nature and the low value blacks were viewed with. Similarly, a group of boys Carla goes to school with constantly bully her and tell her that she does not belong in their country. The boys attack Carla with stones and tell her to “go back to where you came form, you dirty spic!” (42). In “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree battles to stand up for herself because of the inferiority of women at that time. Similarly, a stalker who masturbated in his car in front of her sexually harassed

In the story, “Desiree’s Baby”, when Desiree comes to the assumption that she is black and the baby’s blackness comes from her she says, “You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy and live.” (Chopin 244). The significance that her life had as a white woman instantly is destroyed by the pervasive nature of racism, as Desiree is discovered to be black. Similarly, in “Trespass”, Carla’s new school is no fun because a gang of boys bullies Carla on the schoolyard every day. They throw rocks at her, lift up her shirt to make fun of her flat chest, and call her a “dirty spic”. They tell her she doesn’t belong here, and to go back to where she came from. Ellen Peel in Semiotic Subversion in “Desiree’s Baby”, describes how a black individual faces the “challenge to the very power differential that birth gave to them” (227). The race discrepancy black people experience is entirely developed by humans, but the most important quality to have in society is white skin. The story shows how Armand’s love for Desiree was entirely based on