...held the least power of the family and believed that they only had a purpose of being housewives. The ideal images of gender roles between men and women, and the identities of women can lead to stereotypes that are associated with Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby.” In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, gender played a big role in the life Desiree as well as Armand Aubigny. Desiree was described as “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere— the idol of Valmonde” (1). Desiree was illustrated as if she was down to earth and had a very warm personality. At first she was nameless, like most women when they are first named by their primary families and renamed when they get married. Desiree nameless when she was first found by the Valmonde family, and then they took her in as their own and she adopted their family name. Desiree undergoes another name change when she later marries a wealthy man by the name of Armand and inherited the family name of Aubigny. Armand was most likely the “breadwinner.” He was the masculine type, a very strict slave owner, arrogant but still had a soft side. Armand fell in love with Desiree by “love at first sight”; he felt “as if struck by a pistol” (1). Armand described Desiree’s beauty in a violent illustration to express how beautiful she was; “… swept along like an avalanche, or like a...
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...Desiree is a 27 year old female suffering from an addiction with alcohol. She was 14 years old when she consumed her first alcoholic drink. Desiree also stated that her parents drank almost every night, and on weekends they were mainly drunk. Desiree also explained how easy it was to get alcohol, because all she had to do was go to her refrigerator to find alcohol. Desiree also admitted her drinking was only on the weekends with friends. As she got older she started to drink a lot more, because she started encountering with mood swings. Desiree also lost her license due to a DUI. Therefore, she has to rely on others to take her to work. Desiree also explained when she is not drunk she does not feel herself, and feels angry over little things....
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...concentrates on how and the way a particular subject relates to a social class, ideology, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Armand Aubigny’s environment and childhood influences his lifestyle and beliefs to accept racial discrimination as common. By owning a family name that represents a boastful heritage “that is the oldest and proudest in Louisiana,” and a place in society as a plantation owner, Aubigny has superiority over the blacks (Chopin, n.a, 2). Therefore, Aubigny, confident that he is a white, a male, and a master in control automatically looks for a black mother Desiree, his wife to blame as soon as he realizes his son resembles a quadroon one quarter black. Because of his regular habit of racial prejudice, Aubigny betrays his loved ones and undergoes the trauma of receiving the news that his family is black. Armand Aubigny is like the other men in his family and fell instantly in love with Desiree; however, he had seen her many times before the day he passed her standing outside the Valmondes' gate. He claimed that unknown origin and lack of name did not bother him because he could give her a good-standing name that had held prominence for years. When their child is not completely white, he agrees she should leave, never once believing the child's...
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...is isolation. The political theme is gender and class. Gender because Emily is mocked and pitied because she is an old woman who isn’t married. Class because she is old and alone and doesn’t know what’s going on so society isolates her. Race can be a theme but it its only expressed through one character. The political theme supports the over all theme because people discriminate based on gender and class and that can lead to isolation. This forecasts a negative view of political systems in our society. 2. Desiree’s Baby. Armand Desiree’s husband holds the power in this story. I also think he enacts the gaze. In the story Desiree was found on the side of the rode when she was a child. She doesn’t have a background or a family. Armand’s family doesn’t want him to marry her because she has no background. Desiree is controlled by her position in the story. Desiree can’t really expect or ask for anything because according to society she doesn’t have...
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...In the story Desiree's Baby, Desiree, and Armand experience passionate feelings for and get hitched, they are both white and live in a southern town when slavery was still around. When they had their baby things begin to get unpleasant between them, the reason being, the baby was conceived dark. It was fascinating to me that it was naturally expected this needed to do with the mother, Desiree, and nothing to do with Armand, the father. Desiree went frantic she denied being dark, “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” she laughed hysterically.” (Chopin 506). However, was yet appalled in the way he had a child that was conceived dark. At last, when Desiree kept in touch with her mom and her mom...
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...“fashioned a literary career out of her experience of the Creole and Cajun cultures she had come to know” (Baym and Levine 420). Chopin’s stories of Louisiana rural life earned her national recognition as a writer of local color fiction. In Desiree’s baby, Chopin’s ability to foreshadow and build up suspense allows the reader to engage in the doubtfulness and uncertainty which keeps the reader unaware. Desiree’s Baby is a story of love, mystery, and suspense. Published in 1893, Desiree’s Baby, was centered on the controversial subject of racism. The plot is centered on Desiree who was adopted as a young toddler by Madame Valmonde and her husband, and raised on their wealthy Louisiana plantation. In subsequent years, Desiree marries Armand Aubigny, a wealthy slave owner from L’Abri. They soon have a child, however as the child ages, Armand notices that the child it not “purely white” and accuses Desiree of being part black....
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...Desiree- A vegetable with yellow, pinkish skin, pale flesh. La Blanche- Means “White”, which is often a symbol of pureness or guiltlessness. L’Abri- French for the “Shelter”. Valmonde- “Family name” which means “the World”. Armand- Is a German baby name. In German, the name Armand is: Army man; soldier. These names are French names. However, Desiree also means “wish”. When Armand fell in love with Desiree, he was obsessed to the degree that her unidentified kin inheritance was not a fear. Tying the knot with a woman whose background was anonymous, their children displayed secret language of Armand’s inheritance, which would be an explanation for the baby’s appearance. La Blanche relates to the story because the name stands for the dispute...
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...Desiree Baby is a story set during the American Civil War, a time when interracial couples and families were not accepted. During this time frame Slave owner’s would secretly have relations with slaves. This story relates to how cultural, social classes, ethnicity and nationality were a huge importance. In this story Armand Aubigny is a plantation owner who carriers one of the supreme names in Louisiana, and because of this believes he is the best and deserves the best. He fell in love with beautiful Desiree after seeing her all grown up. He is reminded that she is adopted and does not know who her material family is. Because of Desiree’s beauty Armand really does not care about her heritage. Armand who was very strict and mean to the slaves became much more amiable towards them after the birth of his beautiful son. A Son to who he believed would carry on the family’s name. Desiree also came to notice how Armand’s attitude changed and how he became a much more pleasant person especially towards the slaves, no longer punishing them. This made her very happy. As the baby started getting older Armand notice that his son looks were changing, that he look bi-racial. Désirée also recognized this. Armand felt betrayed by his wife and felt as though God was punishing him because of his first wife. He believed his wife was bi-racial, not completely white. Armand felt that he could no longer love her because of this. Armand believed that his family’s name would be destroyed...
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...Can something as little as the color of your skin color tear a family apart? Maybe not now a days, but back long ago it could. The story entitled “Desiree’s Baby” is about a woman who has a baby with her slave owning husband, Armand. The baby’s birth starts to raise suspicions as to whom the rightful parents are, and the rightful nationality is of the baby. The truth is so devastating that it dramatically changes the family for good. Chopin, the author of the short story, does an excellent job in provoking the reader’s emotions, such as anxiety, because she keeps the reader’s attention with suspicion, uses figurative language, and she makes dramatic irony as a big part of the story. Chopin is able to keep the reader constantly entertained...
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...both sides being hurt in the end. In Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby”, the race of Desiree and Armand’s child cause Armand to turn a cold shoulder to his wife and his child, eventually driving Desire to suicide. By analyzing the racism in the story, it becomes clear that heritage, setting, and social norms play a major role in the motives of the story. Armand’s family was old and wealthy and was very important to the Louisiana plantation. He was light skin and handsome. His mother died when he was eight years old, so he does not remember the skin tone of his mother. He just assumed she was Caucasian. Armand states his name was “One of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana” (Chopin, 650) Therefore, Armand was born into wealth. On the other hand, Desiree was abandoned and was taken in by the Valmonde’s family. The Valmonde’s had not been blessed with any children, so they took in Desiree and raised her as their own child. The Valmonde's taking in this child as their own, is two blessing in one. Desiree gets the love and support that she needs from parents, and the Valmonde's get a child that they are now able to give love and support to. Growing up to become a beautiful woman, she attracted the attention of Armand Aubigny. Armand was a neighboring plantation owner and bearer of one of the finest names in Louisiana. His Heritage will play a major role in this story Desiree and Armand met as children growing up on the plantation. But at that time, Armand did not love...
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...lover during a storm. The last story by Kate Chopin “Desiree Baby’s” is about an orphan who got married and had a baby by a well-known and respected man whose attitude towards her changed due to the skin color of their son. These three stories have many similarities and differences in the type of male dominated oppression and relieve each woman felt in their marriage. For instance,...
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...” by Kate Chopin, the main character, Désirée, is shunned from her home because her baby has colored skin. Although I can’t directly relate, my mom can. Years ago, my mom had a baby with colored skin, and my grandfather did not approve, much like Armand in the story. For Armand and Désirée, it was like love at first sight, and they marry. Soon they expand their family with the birth of a baby boy. Désirée’s world is perfect until Armand starts acting strange. She has no idea what could have caused this sudden change. When Désirée confronts him about it, he indirectly tells her that it is because their baby’s skin is not pure white. He can’t accept that their baby’s skin doesn’t match his, and he asks Désirée to take the baby and leave. My grandfather is very old-fashioned. He was raised on a farm in Missouri long before the civil rights movement. His grandfather lived with him, and they were very close. His grandfather’s family had owned slaves, and my grandfather grew up believing that the white race is superior. So, when my mom married a Hispanic man in 1986, my grandfather started acting similar to Armand in “Désirée’s Baby.” In the story, Chopin writes about Désirée, “A strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain,” (Chopin 191). My mom can relate to Désirée because her own father was doing the same to her. Soon after the wedding, my mom, like Désirée, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. This...
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...published one year later by the writer Kate Chopin. The story mostly focuses on our main character Desiree who is the protagonist, and her relationship with her husband Armand. We’re told about how Desiree is adopted by Monsieur and Madame Valmondé. The Valmondés are wealthy Creoles, and they live in Lousiana. Desiree was found by Monsieur Valmondé in the shadow of a stone pillar near the gateway to their house. The Valmondés of course raised her, and soon enough she was courted to a man called Armand, who also is from a respected and wealthy Creole family. The couple got a child together. But the child didn’t look like a child usually died. Its skin wasn’t white, but more likely the color of a quadroon slave boys. And because of the unknown roots of Desiree’s, Armand quickly assumes that Desiree was the one who was born by a black person. Of course Desiree tries to deny this accusing, but she is suggested by Madame Valmondé to return to them since she was living with Armand at this point. Armand also insist that she leaves. He burns all of Desirees belongings, even their child cradle and the papers Desiree had sent him during their courtship. But between all these papers, was also a letter from his mother to his father. This letter reveals that it actually is Armand who is part black. In this short story, we mostly have to do with flat characters. Our protagonist is at said above Desiree, since it the story primary focuses on her, and her feelings and thoughts. She doesn’t have any...
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...Through the fictional story Desiree’s Baby, written by Kate Chopin, we follow the story of Desiree, a young woman adopted by Monsieur, who found her under a stone pillar. After being raised by Monsieur and his wife, Madame Valmonde, Desiree marries deep pocketed Armand Aubigny; eventually, having a child with Armand. However, Desiree’s life unfolds drastically, as she learns her baby is not as pure bred as she had assumed. This revelation, along with Armand’s cold shoulder upon also learning of his baby’s true origins, leads to the suicide of Desiree, via drowning; along with her baby, however. Furthermore, Armand, having been the one to lead to Desiree’s suicide due to his stubborn prejudice, learns his mother was of African descent. Chopin...
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... both women: Edna from The Awakening and Desiree from Desiree’s Baby can relate their struggles in their marriage. In both novels, it is evident to the audience that both couples lack a strong connection and at least one partner has a detachment from the other. In The Awakening and in Desiree’s Baby, Edna and Desiree’s relationship with their husbands negatively...
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