Desiree S Baby CER

Mandy Hellman
Desiree’s Baby CER
In the short story, “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, the theme of power and how it can corrupt ones life is significant, as portrayed when Armand pushes away the most important people in his life because of the misconception that Desiree and the baby are of black descent. In the beginning, Armand Aubigny is utterly in love with Desiree; in fact, the author explains, “The passion that awoke in him that day… swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.” This demonstrates how much Armand truly loved Desiree and how unstoppable and unconditional their love seemed it would be. Desiree was found on the streets as a baby by the Valmondé family making it impossible to know her backgrounds and real family. However, Armand believed, “What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?” This reveals how high Armand’s social status is and how imperative it is to him that it remains that way. After marriage, Desiree gives birth to their son and both Armand and Desiree are ecstatic. Desiree even exclaims to her mother, ““Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name; though he says not,—that he would have loved a girl as well.”” This shows two crucial details; first that Armand is proud, content with the baby and still in love with Desiree. Second, that Armand is also content because the baby is a boy, meaning it will carry on the Aubigny name. Once again, pointing out the importance of social standing for Armand. Suddenly their joyful love story transforms when Armand has reason to believe Desiree and the baby are of black descent, “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. …The old love-light seemed to have gone out.” This somber shift in moods reflects how much Armand is obsessed and overly concerned about his social standing and the notion that his legendary name could be forgotten. It also shows how quickly his love for Desiree and the baby changed simply because of threats to his own name. “Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” He is so concerned that he would rather toss his previously beloved family into the shadows than his social standing. Eventually he asks Desiree to leave and she does because of her unconditional and undeserving love for Armand. Power and social standing can easily lead people to make foolish and selfish decisions that result in losing everyone whom they loved.