- Mar 26, 2011
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So I know this isn't cheer related, but I'd love to get some help or opinions on this literary essay for American Lit on Chopin's "Desiree's Baby". Please if you see any grammer errors or have suggestions, all is welcome!! 
It would help me alot! I just wanna make sure this makes sense!
Lacey Dunn
Dr. Pfeiffer
English 2132
25 September 2012
Armand marries Desiree, not caring of her unknown origin, and they have a child together. Armand seems to change and become more loving than he was. Previously harsh to his slaves, his temperament changes and he becomes kinder and more tolerant. Chopin writes, “Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay” (440). His mistreatment and hatred of the slaves changes when the couple is first married and have the baby. Desiree states to her adoptive mother that “He hasn’t punished one of them- not one of them- since baby is born” (Chopin 440).
However, a fog-like air of misery seems to creep throughout the household when the baby who starts to grow and change in extremely alarming ways. Desiree’s adoptive mother is the first one to notice the baby’s change. Chopin demonstrates Madame Valmonde’s surprise and astonishment when she writes, ““This is not the baby!” she exclaimed, in startled tones” (440). Madame Valmonde realizes that something is different with the baby, not just that he has grown. Chopin continues to write, ““Yes, the child has grown, has changed,” said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. “What does Armand say?” (440). She knows that something is wrong, and the tone of mystery about the child creeps in when she wonders about Armand’s thoughts.
As the child grows, he becomes darker in skin color. Armand begins to change his behavior, going back to his menacing ways from before the marriage. This is shown when Chopin writes, “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out” (441). Armand automatically places the blame for the child’s color on Desiree. He rejects her and puts the pride of his lineage and racial purity above his love for his wife.
When Desiree finally sees the difference in color of her child, she asks Armand what it means. His reaction is cruel and cold. Armand replies, ““It means,” he said lightly,” that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin 441). He puts the blame on Desiree, for she is from an unknown origin. He refuses to believe that there is any possibility of breakage in his pure white lineage and becomes disgusted that his wife is impure. He puts her below him, and rejects her, forcing her to leave with the child.
Chopin expands Armand’s thoughts on his wife and child being impure. He believes that God is punishing him and that his wife should be sent away as a way to get back with God. She writes, “He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelty and unjustly with him; and felt somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife’s soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name” (Chopin 442). Armand’s reaction shows that he puts his pride in his lineage above all else. His prejudice and discrimination against the black race forces him to act wickedly and drive his wife away.
Desiree becomes so unhappy and loses the will to live. When she leaves the house, Chopin writes, “Desiree went in search for her child. Zandrine was pacing the somber gallery with it” (442). The gallery, which is characterized with a somber feeling, is no longer a happy place where the couple had lived. Chopin makes the distinction that it is Desiree’s child, for Armand wants nothing to do with him. By writing and naming “it”, she distinguishes that Desiree no longer has an emotionally attachment to her child. She feels that the part black child isn’t worth her love, and she is confused on how to live with herself knowing that she is as well part black.
At the end of the story, Armand ultimately finds out that it is he who is part black. Chopin writes, “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”(443). He discovers that it is he who is “cursed” with the impurity of being part black. Chopin states that slavery is a brand, and that it is a curse to be born with dark skin.
“Desiree’s Baby” focuses on the social issue of the importance of racial purity in the time of slaves and plantations. She focuses on the pride of Armand and his hatred of the black race that forces him to drive his wife and impure child away. Ironically, he is the one with the impurity within his lineage. By sharing Armand and Desiree’s feelings towards the impurity of their child, Chopin is able to show the feelings and attitudes towards blacks and slavery during her lifetime.
Reidhead. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2008. 439-443. Print.
It would help me alot! I just wanna make sure this makes sense!Lacey Dunn
Dr. Pfeiffer
English 2132
25 September 2012
Racism in “Desiree’s Baby”
Written by Kate Chopin, “Desiree’s Baby” is a tragic yet ironic love story that captures the reader’s attention, forcing them to question the shift in tone from happiness to tragedy. Set in Louisiana when slavery was not yet abolished, it focuses on the unequal feelings towards blacks and whites. Throughout the story, Chopin emphasizes the importance of racial purity within the lineage of a family. A woman of unknown origin, Desiree, is married to Armand, a wealthy slave owner. She bears his child whose skin seem to become darker months after the birth. The husband, Armand, blames Desiree for the child’s color and deems them impure in his eyes. She is rejected, and ultimately driven to kill herself and her son who are unwanted any longer. Chopin focuses on Armand’s pride in his purity and the prejudice toward’s dark skin to portray people’s believes and ideas on racism during her days alive.Armand marries Desiree, not caring of her unknown origin, and they have a child together. Armand seems to change and become more loving than he was. Previously harsh to his slaves, his temperament changes and he becomes kinder and more tolerant. Chopin writes, “Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay” (440). His mistreatment and hatred of the slaves changes when the couple is first married and have the baby. Desiree states to her adoptive mother that “He hasn’t punished one of them- not one of them- since baby is born” (Chopin 440).
However, a fog-like air of misery seems to creep throughout the household when the baby who starts to grow and change in extremely alarming ways. Desiree’s adoptive mother is the first one to notice the baby’s change. Chopin demonstrates Madame Valmonde’s surprise and astonishment when she writes, ““This is not the baby!” she exclaimed, in startled tones” (440). Madame Valmonde realizes that something is different with the baby, not just that he has grown. Chopin continues to write, ““Yes, the child has grown, has changed,” said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. “What does Armand say?” (440). She knows that something is wrong, and the tone of mystery about the child creeps in when she wonders about Armand’s thoughts.
As the child grows, he becomes darker in skin color. Armand begins to change his behavior, going back to his menacing ways from before the marriage. This is shown when Chopin writes, “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out” (441). Armand automatically places the blame for the child’s color on Desiree. He rejects her and puts the pride of his lineage and racial purity above his love for his wife.
When Desiree finally sees the difference in color of her child, she asks Armand what it means. His reaction is cruel and cold. Armand replies, ““It means,” he said lightly,” that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin 441). He puts the blame on Desiree, for she is from an unknown origin. He refuses to believe that there is any possibility of breakage in his pure white lineage and becomes disgusted that his wife is impure. He puts her below him, and rejects her, forcing her to leave with the child.
Chopin expands Armand’s thoughts on his wife and child being impure. He believes that God is punishing him and that his wife should be sent away as a way to get back with God. She writes, “He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelty and unjustly with him; and felt somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife’s soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name” (Chopin 442). Armand’s reaction shows that he puts his pride in his lineage above all else. His prejudice and discrimination against the black race forces him to act wickedly and drive his wife away.
Desiree becomes so unhappy and loses the will to live. When she leaves the house, Chopin writes, “Desiree went in search for her child. Zandrine was pacing the somber gallery with it” (442). The gallery, which is characterized with a somber feeling, is no longer a happy place where the couple had lived. Chopin makes the distinction that it is Desiree’s child, for Armand wants nothing to do with him. By writing and naming “it”, she distinguishes that Desiree no longer has an emotionally attachment to her child. She feels that the part black child isn’t worth her love, and she is confused on how to live with herself knowing that she is as well part black.
At the end of the story, Armand ultimately finds out that it is he who is part black. Chopin writes, “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”(443). He discovers that it is he who is “cursed” with the impurity of being part black. Chopin states that slavery is a brand, and that it is a curse to be born with dark skin.
“Desiree’s Baby” focuses on the social issue of the importance of racial purity in the time of slaves and plantations. She focuses on the pride of Armand and his hatred of the black race that forces him to drive his wife and impure child away. Ironically, he is the one with the impurity within his lineage. By sharing Armand and Desiree’s feelings towards the impurity of their child, Chopin is able to show the feelings and attitudes towards blacks and slavery during her lifetime.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. "Desiree's Baby." 1893. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2008. 439-443. Print.
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