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the story of an hour kate chopin critical analysis
the story of an hour kate chopin critical analysis
the story of an hour kate chopin critical analysis
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“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin is the epitome of amazing love. This story can be compared to “The Story of an Hour”, as well as “The Storm”. However, rather than highlight her character’s sexuality or internal emotional conflicts, Chopin manages to make a gradual impact on Desiree’s strength, courage, and pride; elements that made me fall in love with the story of a woman who is a victim of assumptions, lies, and racism. Unconditional love is the predominant characteristic that allows both Desiree and her baby to survive her husband’s narrow-minded personality, and indirectly allows them to escape a cruel reality. Chopin story is a realistic example of a woman’s struggles. Hearts, the color red, kisses, and romanticism are key words that remind me of the word love. However, as I ask myself what do I really know about love? Instantly, my inner science geek says that love stimulates someone’s emotional health, but my sentimental self replies by reminding me of my mother. Once I connect the two concepts, I realized that my mother’s love is my definition of unconditional love. At the end, I know she will always support me and simply be there for me. Unconditional love is the kind of love that cannot be measure, it does not need constant reminders of affection, and it strength can overcome anything. Chopin provides an explicit example of this type of love, “Madame Valdome abandoned every speculation, but the one that Désirée had sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the flesh” (Literature for Composition, 75). In other words, Madame Valdome considers Désirée as a gift from God that is send to full field their lives with joy and love. Regardless of how she arriv... ... middle of paper ... ...disgrace; the love of her mother overcame all of her previous beliefs. Desiree’s mother proof her that unconditional love cannot be broken. Now, Désirée is alone with a baby that she gave birth to. It perhaps does not look like her, but it is her gift from God. I believed this story embraces the value of true love; Désirée went from an ignorant rich white young woman to a strong woman who will do anything for her child. She left a life full of prejudices to give her little boy a life with meaning, and love. Moreover, Chopin’s last paragraph embraces the same concept, “Our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (77). Armand’s mother sacrifices her desire to raise her child to give him a live of freedom. This is another proof that love is selfless, strong, and unbreakable.
Chopin sets the context for her argument by Placing Désirée in an environment where she can be made black easily, but with significant consequences. Despite Désirée’s ability to effortlessly assimilate into southern society, taking on the role of the “beautiful, gentle, affectionate and sincere” southern belle, the story never loses sight of her “obscure origin” (#). As a result, Désirée is not given the opportunity to prove h...
The short story “Desiree’s Baby” written by Kate Chopin, tells of love, betrayal, and loss. The story begins by pulling in the imagination by the introduction of Desiree, who was found by Monsieur Valmonde as she slept in the shadow of the stone pillar. Desiree’s unknown origin would later come into the story only to give the reader a sense of false knowledge of Desiree’s origin when Armand Aubigny, the rich plantation owner of L’abri, falls madly in love with Desiree the moment his eyes set upon her, as she stood in the shadow of the same stone pillar. They marry and have a baby boy. When the baby reaches 4 months old his skin begins to show the appearance of a quadroon. The skin color of the child sets forth the end of Armand’s love for
Ever wondered how love can bring you happiness and pain and make you sane and crazy at the same time. How this emotion can change you and make you accept things you are not used to. How this emotion can overpower you in many ways in which you did not know existed. In Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes, the power of love is a commanding driving force that can dominate a person’s mind, body, and soul and one who is courageous enough to love sometimes undergoes serious consequences. Consequences that are driven from the power of love that harm and cause hardship to the one who is determined to seek love.
Professor Lavender’s “Notes on the Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood” states that the ideal woman should have four qualities embodied in her: Piety, Purity, Domesticity, and Submissiveness. This was of course related to the times around the industrial age rather than the modern. Kate Chopin’s primary character in “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree, meets these standards for the ideal woman of that time.
Kate Chopin utilizes irony in “Desiree’s Baby” to warn people of the dangers of racism and how it can victimize not only the hated race, but also the one who is racist. “Desiree’s Baby” is a tale about a young slave owner, Armand, with a well-respected name in Louisiana. He marries an adopted woman named Desiree and once they have their child, he notices that the baby has black features. He assumes that since he does not know his wife’s racial background that his wife must have some sort of black heritage, but it is his “inferences [that] lead to tragedy." Armand did not want his wife to be around because of her assumed race, so she took the baby and left. Months later when Armand is burning Desiree and the baby’s possessions, he finds a letter written by his mother stating, “But, above all…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’s irony was embedded in the fact that Armand hated who he is without knowing it. He assumed that his wife was the one with the black genes and that she needed to leave. Armand lost everything he had and loved because of the hate he held in his heart. The author proved through her use of irony that Caucasian and black people are the same. Besides physical features, it is impossible to tell from which race one has descended.
In the short story Desiree’s Baby, written by Kate Chopin, the author shows different variations of love. The story explores a man’s love for his wife, a wife’s love for her husband, and a mother’s love for her child. The purpose of this essay is to examine the different ways the characters portrayed love, as well as which version of love is the ideal version.
In Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin, Armand Aubigny, a strict and rich young man, falls in love with Desiree, a beautiful young lady with an obscure origin. After some time, Armand and Desiree got married and had a baby girl. At first, Armand was overjoyed until he noticed that the baby was developing some odd physical characteristics. He became bitter and short tempered. Oblivious to the reason behind her husband disposition, it was only until she saw her baby next to a young slave boy that she was able to identify same similarities between them.
Kate Chopin is very well known for her extremely unique writing. Not only are her works striking of feminism, but the way she approached topics were not easily tolerated at that time especially for her gender. Many of her stories tie into marriage and the unhappiness that it brings. In Desiree’s Baby Chopin says, “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him…” Comparing the woman’s husband to that of Satan shows the intensity of disgust between the two in the relationship. Strong statements such as these are often seen in “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour.” In Chopin’s life she was married, and her stories lead me to believe that she viewed her marriage as a trap and suffered from lack of privacy and control. Despite how provoking Chopin’s works were she was long ignored by readers and critics until her stories hit the surface in the 1960’s and became more popular. The women in her stories are constantly seeking freedom, lust, and attention.
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.
She expresses the opinion of other critics who claim the notability of the story is because of the “twist ending”. Wolff argues a simple trick would not evoke such strong reactions from readers. “Desiree’s Baby” deals with the differences of skin pigmentation and Wolff analyzes that the main focus of the story is not the issue of slavery, but the influence of color in the lives of Armand and Desiree and what role color plays in the society. Wolff notes that Chopin made few references to skin pigmentation, but Armand is the only one whose “dark skin” is announced in the story. This gives a clue about the mystery that occurs throughout the story; the origin of the baby’s color. Wolff also suggests that Chopin made Desiree and Armand’s love opposite from one another to show the contrast of the two –Desiree’s innocent love and Armand’s turbulent love. Wolff concludes by stating that “Desiree’s Baby” supports one of Chopin’s main concerns, “the fiction of limits” (133), there is no limit to what an author can write and how it would be
When I think about starting over, I am often reminded of Armand in the story of “Desiree Baby”. Armand, the protagonist in the story built a bonfire in the efforts of trying to erase away the memory of his wife Desiree, and his son. Armand’s bonfire symbolizes Armand wanting to start over and forget his past. Throughout the short story many elements of symbolism was used to convey a central message those include discussing symbols of racism, social class distinction, and the symbolic elements involving the difference between the gender roles.
Kate Chopin's use of irony in the story is particularly effective. She points out the various aspects that prejudice is unfair to the characters in her story. If Desiree had been the one of mixed race then she could have been considered by as the innocent heroine. Consequently, because Armand is the source of the suspect blood, Desiree becomes totally the victim.
The Woman in Love, a section taken from Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, describes her theories on men and women in love and the vast differences and purposes they think love is for. This book was published in 1949, and with this in mind we can understand the way she describes women as the weaker sex and how dependent women are on men. In the beginning of the text she states that “The word ‘love’ has not all the same meaning for both sexes, and this is a source of the grave misunderstandings that separate them...love is merely an occupation in the life of the man, while it is life itself for the woman(683).” This first quote from this chapter is important because it really outlines what she is about to get at throughout the entire...
Chopin, Kate. "Desiree's Baby." In An Introduction to Literature, by William Burto, and William E. Cain Sylvan Barnet, 82-86. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.
In 'Desiree?s Baby,' Chopin illustrates her idea of the relationship between men and women by portraying Desiree as vulnerable and easily affected, whereas Armand is presented as superior and oppressive. Throughout ?Desiree?s Baby,? Kate Chopin investigates the concept of Armand's immense power over Desiree. At first, Desiree tries to conform to the traditional female role by striving to be an obedient wife. Later in the story, this conformity changes after Desiree gives birth to her part-black son.