Desiree's Baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It is set in
19th century Louisiana. The story starts with Madame Valmonde going to
visit Desiree and her baby. She thinks back on her memories of Desiree
as a baby:
"It made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby.
Why it seemed but yesterday that Desiree was little
more than a baby herself."
This quote tells us two things. The first is that Madame Valmonde must
have known Desiree as a child and is either a close family friend of
even a member of the family herself. The second thing is that Desiree
is young. The word "baby" could either mean childlike or physically
young. Desiree seemed to be a normal child and had had a normal
childhood. The third paragraph tells us more about Desiree's
background:
"She had been purposely left by a band of passing
Texans."
This makes us think that she he had been abandoned at a very young age
outside Madame Valmonde´s home. We can also tell from paragraph five
that "She was nameless."
No one knew what her name was or what her family background was like.
It was all a rumour.
Eighteen years after this, Armand Aubigny fell in love with Desiree.
From the fifth paragraph of the first page we can tell that Armand was
very proud of his family name.
"What did it matter about a name when he could give
her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?"
This is a very old fashioned point of view. To Armand, his name was
everything. There is a very strong social contrast between the
nameless Desiree and Armand.
Signs of racism become apparent in the book on page 67:
"Young Aubigny´s rule was a strict one, too, and under
it his Negroes had forgotten how to be happy."
Armand must have treated them very harshly and made them unhappy. His
home is described as being sad looking and quite dreary.
The second paragraph of page 67 gives the reader a description of the
type of home Armand owns. There are muslins, a couch decorated with
laces, there are also slaves. Madame Valmonde´s first reaction to the
baby was one of shock and astonishment:
"This is not the baby!"
Theoretically this isn't very significant because babies tend to grow
very quickly and their outward appearance can change very fast. The
eighth paragraph on this page gives us a hint at why Madame Valmondé
was so startled when she first saw the baby.
"Madame Valmonde had never removed her eyes from the
child. She lifted it and walked with it over to the window
Once the Farallon plate disappeared, this brought the North American plate in direct contact with the Pacific plate. Initially the Pacific plate had being moving north, so when it first came into contact with the North American plate it didn’t subduct, but they rubbed against each other. This formed the San Andreas Fault
'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour' expresses the attitudes of two women's rebirth and liberation. These two stories are alike in several ways. Natures plays a major role in both of these women's lives. Calixta and Mrs. Louise Mallard struggle to find their independence and in doing so the endings are triumphant and tragic.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.
With an author ahead of her time, Kate Chopin challenged the ideas of how women should be seen socially. Chopin frankly portrays women as emotional, intelligent and sexual beings. While it might seem that Chopin offers positive examples of female characters, in actuality they are complicated, messy and ultimately negative. All of her main female character seem to experience self-awareness, something very important at that time period because while women had feelings and thoughts, they weren't recognized by society, these feelings of independence and discovery are often temporary, still bound to social limitations. In some cases, it requires the Chopin brings attention to women's internal struggles with themselves and who they are told to be in a society that dismisses female autonomy, she doesn't do anything to solve or change them. It often appears that there is a choice between being independent or being married because identity is often lost in marriage and characters are unable to find a balance, making the characters hopeless.
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.
The AIDS epidemic has reached disastrous proportions on the continent of Africa. Over the past two decades, two thirds of the more than 16 million people in the world infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is now home to the largest number of people infected, with 70 percent of the world’s HIV infected population. The problem of this ongoing human tragedy is that Africa is also the least equipped region in the world to cope with all the challenges posed by the HIV virus. In order understand the social and economic consequences of the disease, it is important to study the relationship between poverty, the global response, and the effectiveness of AIDS prevention, both government and grass roots.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2012). Refocusing national attention on the hiv crisis in the united states. Retrieved from website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/2012/AAAFactSheet-0712-508c.pdf
For over thirty years HIV and AIDS have presented historic challenges to the human nature, especially to our planet’s public health, scientific and medical communities. It is estimated that just in the United States between 900.000 and 950.000 persons are living with HIV and about one forth of those infected have not yet been diagnosed and are unaware of their infection. The number of people with AIDS is increasing as effective new drug therapies keep HIV-infected persons healthy longer and dramatically reduce the death rates. However in spite of extremely beneficial advances in the field of HIV-AIDS treatment in recent years the epidemic is far from being over. The Center for Disease Control in the United States has estimated that about 40.000 people become infected every year and most of these are young persons under the age of 25. The epidemic of HIV is severely impacting the communities of color, particularly young men and women. Roughly about sixty percent of new infections continue to be among men having a sexual intercourse with another man. The National HIV Prevention Committee suggests that there has been resurgence in unsafe behaviors among some communities of gay men. With all the research and evidence available from various government and non-profit organizations dealing with HIV and AIDS prevention far too many Americans believe that the epidemic is over in the United States. Among minorities, women, and the poor the worst may yet to be come. African Americans represent 12 percent of the American population, which is about 35.000.000 people, but about 50 percent of the new HIV cases (www.statehealthfacts.org). In the United States some 80 percent of all women infected are women of color. In addition African-American women are becoming infected at younger age compared to their white peers primarily through heterosexual contact. Hispanics present about 14 percent of the US population, about 40.322.930 people, and 20 percent of HIV-AIDS cases. The HIV infection rate among Native Americans is approximately one and a half time that of whites and they die from AIDS much faster than the whites due to late diagnosis.
a vaccine that can prevent it. With AIDS being the leading cause of death among
Over 33 million people around the world have AIDS (“Global Statistics.”). The disease, caused by the virus HIV, attacks the immune system, which is meant to protect your body from illness. Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, and 25 million have lost their lives due to it. AIDS is a serious issue affecting many people around the world today as they struggle with the disease, research for medicines, and attempt to reduce new infections
...trive to live normal lives. Scientists also struggle to create a vaccine to get rid of HIV permanently. It is an important live saving decision to practice safe sex or abstinence and also to avoid the using needles to inject drugs.
A Love Affair in The Storm by Kate Chopin Kate Chopin's "The Storm" is a short story about a brief love affair that takes place during a storm that has separated Calixta from her husband and son. The title "The Storm" is an obvious reference to the storm outside, but more importantly to the love affair that takes place. The title refers to nature, which is symbolically used again and again in the story. Chopin uses words like "somber clouds", "threatening roar", and "sinister intentions" to describe the approaching storm. Later in the story those same words in reference to the storm outside, will also be represented symbolically to the storm brewing inside with the love affair.
This study used content analysis to identify dominant AIDS-HIV themes in the manifest news content of AP, Reuters, AFP, ITAR-TASS, and IPS. A systematic random sample of AIDS-HIV stories disseminated by the five wire services between May 1991 and May 1997 (both months included) was obtained. This decade was selected because several empirical studies of coverage in the 1980s have been conducted; however, few studies examine the 1990s.
In the story of an hour, Kate Chopin uses many literary devices. Imagery, irony and symbolism makes the story interesting and the ending of the story raises many question came to my mind? How can such an event take so little time? What is the significant of that one hour? What does her heart trouble symbolize? These are some questions that came across my mind and the beauty of her writing is the symbolism and ironies she used and readers can have different interpretation.
In the Old Testament a man of God named Daniel, is a perfect example in history who fast. In Daniel 1:8, he did not want to eat the king 's food, he knew that it will defile him. So he ask for a test, that Daniel and his companions, are to eat only vegetables and water to drink. While the servants eat the kings food, both do this for ten days,