Desiree's Baby Chopin

During Chopin’s life, there was a lot of oppression in women’s lives because they were constantly being molded, restricted, and immobilized because of society and their pressures they put on women (Frye 68). Society constantly placed gender roles on women, which were “society’s views or expectations of women” (Fox-Genovese 37) and women could not possibly escape these social pressures from society (Frye 69). Examples of society’s social pressures on women include marriage, children, and domesticity. These social pressures placed on women did not allow women to become their own self because women’s “social role[s] [conflicted] with her true identity” (Jones 121). Women had a difficult time finding their own identity because of these social pressures. One of the first social pressures placed on women is marriage. While women are growing up, they are told that “marriage is her ultimate goal” (Goldman372) and they have to get married in order to fit in society. Many critics, though, argue that marriage should not be a goal for
women because “marriage imprisoned women” (Fox-Genovese 35). For example, according to Emma Goldman, an anarcha-feminit, and author of “Marriage and Love,” published in 1910, when a women gets married, she gives up “her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life” (372). Goldman is stating that women are giving themselves up and are becoming dependent on their husbands. It also means that women are “objects of others rather than as the free subjects of their own” (Fox-Genovese 35). This means that women are like property to their husbands and will not have any control over their lives. Marriage also “incapacitates [women] for life’s struggle, annihilates her social consciousness, paralyzes her imagination” (Goldman 374). Ultimately, marriage oppresses every aspect in women’s lives. However, there are some women who saw marriage conflicting with their own identity and wanted to get out of their marriage, but they could not. Goldman states this perfectly: “she could not go, if she wanted to; there is no place to go” (373). If women left their marriages, they would be seen as a social outcast and they would not be able to survive on their own. Therefore, many women “submit to [marriage] for the sake of public opinion” (Goldman 372) so they could fit into society. Chopin is very aware of marriage and how it hinders women’s lives because it is evident in her writings, “Desiree’s Baby” and The Awakening. Chopin uses specific symbols to show Desiree and Edna personal identities’ are being conflicted with because of society and their imposed gender roles on women. One imposed gender role society puts on Desiree and Edna is marriage, to be a good wife to their husband, and to rely on him for everything. This causes Desiree and Edna’s identities to be concealed because they have to focus all of their energy on making their husbands happy. If they do not depend on their husbands, society says that they will not be able to survive in the world they live in.
In “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree is greatly affected by society and their imposed gender roles because she relies too much on her husband, Armand. She even intertwines her identity with him. When Armand first sees Desiree by Valmonde’s gateway, he “had fallen in love with her” (Chopin 1519) right away. Chopin describes his love for Desiree by stating his love is “like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles” (1519). He wants to marry Desiree right away. However, Desiree’s adopted father is cautious and tells Armand that Desiree “was nameless” and had an “obscure origin” (Chopin 1519). At the end, however, Armand does not care because “he could give her one of the oldest and proudest [name] in Louisiana” (Chopin 1519) and Desiree and Armand are married. As Goldman states, marriage gives women a new name and causes women to be dependent on their man (372). In this case, Desiree has given up her last name of Valmonde and changes it to Aubigny. This causes Desiree to have a new identity, thus lacking in her own personal identity.
According to Skredsvig, Desiree establishes “total dependence upon Armand” (par. 34) because of their marriage. Skredsvig states that Desiree’s identity is being concealed because of Desiree and Armand’s marriage; she is now defined as a wife and is now in a higher social class (Skredsvig par. 32), before she was nothing. Without this marriage, Desiree would not have been able to be part of the higher social class or have an identity because in the 19th century, women did not have their own identity. They relied on their fathers or husbands to give them an identity.
With the marriage of Desiree and Armand, their identities are joined together because, according to Derek Foster and Kris LeJunne, “men and women are linked to each other physically by the bonds of marriage more so than they are metaphorically or even spiritually” (155). This means Desiree forms her identity as being a physical part of Armand. Their marriage hinders Desiree from ever forming her own true identity and is content to be whoever Armand is looking for and wants her to be.
Through Armand and Desiree’s marriage, Chopin uses colors to symbolize Armand’s darkness and Desiree’s submissiveness. The colors that are used to describe Armand and Desiree’s marriage is black and white (Arner 142). The color white represents Desiree and how she is being oppressed in the marriage. On the other hand, the dark colors such as black represents Armand and his power he has over Desiree.
Throughout “Desiree’s Baby,” there is a color symbolizing technique of “contrast between light and shadow, whiteness and blackness” (Arner 142). According to Robert Arner, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, in the department of English and Comparative Literature, “Desiree is surrounded by images of whiteness” (142) because she is always wearing white garments. For example, Desiree’s whiteness is represented when she “was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch” (1520). Another white image is “Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore” (Chopin 1522). Often, throughout literature, white represents innocence and passivity. Chopin uses white in this manner to show Desiree’s passivity and her lack of identity because she “never stands up to” Armand (Peel 235). The color white suggests that Desiree is unable, or unwilling, to change, to adapt, and form a true identity of her own. The white garments keep her the way she is with no changes to herself.
Another example about Desiree’s whiteness is Toth’s quote, “Desiree’s whiteness stands for the code of behavior for she represents: femininity, submission to a father, then to a husband” (Toth 121). This quote by Emily Toth, an expert in Kate Chopin’s studies, means the white garments she wears symbolizes that her personal identity is being oppressed because during the time the story is set, women had no control, and the male figures in their life were. Desiree keeps her identity suppressed because she feels she needs to follow what her husband wants. Armand has the power in the relationship and Desiree wants to be a dutiful wife by not questioning him. Therefore, this makes Armand part of Desiree’s identity, because he is overpowering her own ability to form an individualized identity.
On the other hand, the “darkness” Arner states is associated with Armand, which is another color-symbolizing technique Chopin uses in “Desiree’s Baby” (143) to reveal Desiree’s identity is being conflicted with.
Throughout the story, Armand is described as dark. For example, in the text, Armand is described as a “dark, handsome face” (Chopin 1521) and his house, L’Abri, projects his dark personality (Arner 142). This “darkness” within Armand demonstrates his “sensuality and aggressiveness” (Arner 145) toward Desiree. Thus, this means Armand has complete control over Desiree. An example of Armand’s control over Desiree is when is “when he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God” (Chopin 1521). This shows whenever Armand is happy, Desiree is happy. If Armand is angry, Desiree will be upset. Consequently, Desiree intertwines her emotions with Armand and causes her to not have her own
emotions.
Toth also agrees with Robert Arner’s statement of Armand having control in their marriage because “he finds his identity in possession and domination” over Desiree (121). For example, “an awful change in her husband’s manner” (Chopin 1521) happens because Armand avoids Desiree and her baby. Chopin even describes him to be “the very spirit of Satan” because of his controlling nature. Therefore, it is evident that Armand is concealing Desiree’s identity because he has a lot power over her. Desiree allows this to happen because she “is immersed in her husband’s value system and never stands up to him” (Peel 235) because she wants to make her husband happy and if she objects to him, she will make him angry. Because of her “whiteness,” she is too weak to make her own decisions because it suggests she is passive and needs someone to care for her. The “whiteness” and “darkness” contrast shows that Desiree is too weak and Armand is too powerful when it comes to Desiree’s identity. Therefore, Desiree does not have her own personal identity because Armand is suppressing her identity.