In “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree is just the wife and the mother of Armand’s child that he ends up denying. Women did not have a say so at all during this time. Armand is the very strict slave owner, but he is also the “breadwinner”, but he makes Desiree feel complete when he is showing her his soft side. When he starts to disown the baby that’s when Desiree becomes weak because he blames her for him being mixed blood. That is when she tells her mom “My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand tells me I am not white. For God’s sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live” (Chopin 5). After Armand tells her to take the baby and leave, Desiree becomes depressed and does not want to live…
In the story “Desiree’s Baby” it shows how Armand is impulsive when he fell in love with Desiree instantaneously. It was at the same pillar where Monsieur Valmonde, her adopted father, found her and her new life begun and ironically it is the same place Armand fell in love with her, signifying another life, one where she will be given an identity. “He was reminded that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?” He did not care if Desiree loved him back. Their marriage was hasty and intense and had a short life span. It was one that inflicted pain and was destructive both physically and emotionally. This is portrayed through the use of expressions such as “That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot...The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.” These expressions illustrate a rush, intensity, excruciating pain, hurt and destruction. Also, marrying Armand meant that Desiree would lose her freedom and would have very little power to make decisions for herself. She was like a slave for him has he used her to fulfil his needs and desire and did not take notice of her submission and love for him.…
”And the way he cries,” went on Desiree,” is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche’s cabin”(2), this is a strange line in the story and makes the reader question why Armand was in La Blanche’s cabin and what he was actually doing while he was…
The Awakening: The novel was titled “The Awakening,” because the main character Edna Pontellier goes through a series of liberations that cause her to “awaken” or become aware of her…
If a mixed child was found the white parent would be in a great deal of trouble, so most of the time something was done to resolve the situation. Armand’s solution was for Desiree to leave the plantation, “‘Shall I go, Armand?’ ‘Yes, go.’” Although it seems this is a sad ending the reader does not fully understand Armand’s deformed conscience until the end of the story. He has a great bonfire in which he burns everything that belonged to Desiree. However, when cleaning a drawer of love letters to burn he finds one from his mother to his father which says, “our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.” Armand drives Desiree away because he believed she was part black, in reality he was the one who was part black. This irony shows how greatly deformed Armand’s conscience…
In the short story, Kate Chopin portrayed the character Armand to be prideful and have impetuous actions, thus leading to the demolishing of a once joyful family. Chopin shows Armand’s impulsive actions in the beginning when Armand falls in love with Desiree saying, “ The passion awoke in that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.” (Chopin 1).The way he falls in love with Desiree foreshadows and explain his instant hate for her once he believes that she is the one cursed with the black heritage.When…
Race is a major issue in the short story. Armand tried to figure out his past and the person he really was and assumed that Desiree was the actual reason that resulted in the mix racial status of their baby. In addition, Armand felt like his wife’s race, which he always assumed was black, was the main reason for the change in everything; this is because his wife did not live with her biological parents and that she did not even understand her ethnicity “that is, the girl’s obscure origin” (Chopin 1).…
In Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby,” Desiree is the adopted daughter of Monsieur and Madame Valmonde’, a wealthy Louisiana family. As a baby, she was discovered lying in the shadow of a stone pillar near the Valmonde’ gateway which made it unknown who she was or where she came from. She grows up and marries a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner, Armand who makes it clear that Desiree’s unknown heritage did not matter to him. They eventually have a child, a son, who appears to have traces of African ancestry and because of Desiree’s unknown heritage Armand immediately assumes that she is half black. After being rejected by her husband, Desiree takes the child and walks off into the bayou where she is never seen again. Armand, filled with resentment, proceeds to burn all of Desiree’s belongings. While doing so, he discovers a letter from his mother written to his father which reveals that Armand is the one who has mixed heritage in his background, not Desiree. The irony and racism Chopin uses throughout the story indicates Armand’s unknowingness about his family’s secret background.…
Initially, Armand is the picturesque face of a beautiful relationship, a man of "passion swept along like an avalanche drives headlong over all obstacles" (141). When Madame Valmonde asks Desiree what Armand thinks of the baby, she paints him as a most proud father, whose hostility towards the slaves has been weakened with each and every smile from the little one. Three months into the baby's life, the painting rots. Desiree cannot comprehend the reasons behind his awful transformation, but the reader can infer that the baby's blackness is becoming evermore visible. During these times, to be black was to be ugly; Armand's built-up anger and frustration toward his situation finally climaxed amidst his wife's pressing questions, and another instance of prejudice against minorities is exposed. "It means that the child is not white; it means that you are not white" (143). Emotionally ravished and bent over with false guilt, Desiree storms out of the house, the baby in arms, and permanently disappears among the banks of the nearby…
"Desiree's Baby'', is about a young lady who was nameless and abandoned as a child. Desiree was a child who's future was uncertain until she was found by the Valmonde family. During this time of the Valmondes' life, they had not been blessed with any children, therefore they took in Desiree and raised her as their own child. From the very beginning of the story, I knew that this would be something that I would enjoy. 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 a beautiful lady, she attracted the attention of Armand Aubigny Armand was a neighboring plantation owner and bearer of one of the finest names in Louisiana. If I were in Desiree's shoies, I would have thought I was something by dating one of the well-known plantation owners. By this time, Desiree's father was reminding Armand that they didn't know were heritage, but still he insisting on pursuing…
Armand's misogynistic pride was destructive to the faithful relationship that Desiree and he shared in the beginning. It seems that Armand wasn't really in love with Desiree, at least not truly. "Armand Aubigny riding by seeing her there had fallen in love with her. That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot" (301). Armand has known Désirée for years and never felt any feelings for her, so it seems to reason that it was apparent that he was driven by his unconscious passion, or as Sigmund Freud says his lust for her and not as a deep seated emotional love. His prideful name leads us to believe his love is only superficial…
“Desiree’s Baby” is a story about race, in Kate Chopin’s story. The reader begins to be aware that there is a mystery about that child’s parentage, when Desiree gives birth to her child. Besides Desiree’s racist husband, he finds out that she was born from black parents. The story of Desiree’s Baby is about race, it is a mystery about the child’s parentage.…
In the story of “Desiree’s baby”, there are discriminations lead to Desiree’s death which are racism and gender discrimination. In 17th century, women had low status and they cannot get enough respect. Story told “‘Good-by, Armand’, she moaned. He did not answer her. That was his last blow at fate.”(Kate Chopin 6) This sentence shows the indifferent attitude of Desiree’s husband, which is a pervasive social problem. Desiree’ husband found out that their baby was not white and he asked Desiree to leave. Desiree could not revolt, though her husband used cold violence treatment to her. Desiree still could not do anything to refute. That means at that time woman had really low status in the society. When they met unfair treatment they had nothing to do but be silent. Besides that, there is another essential factor which is racial discrimination. The period background of the story is 17 century, black in America suffered maltreatment from their white owner. Obviously, miscegenation could not be accepted by the public. When Armand found his baby was not white, it’s symbolized the disaster and death of Desiree and her baby. As the story told “My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God 's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live.”(5) That is the hopeless accuse of Desiree to Armand, to the society and Louisiana of 17century America. When the plot developed to climax, an unexpected turning appeared. “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.” (7) In fact, Her husband had black blood relationship, but Desiree beard this for him alone. If Desiree had black…
As part of my final grade in my Focused Inquiry class, I was assigned to do an argumentative essay with a thesis pulled out from a synthesis paper that I did. The thesis was supposed to be supported with a media example which would help us with our reasoning. My synthesis paper topic was “Polonium in cigarettes” and therefore I decided to write about the under-representation of the publics common knowledge about radioactive smoke as a result of the tobacco industry’s concealing of evidence. As I was preparing to work on the essay I began to see that I was struggling with finding an appropriate media representation of this issue and questioned if I really wanted to write about my chosen topic. After failing to find a media representation and…
and their family because in his eyes they have broken his rules. For Armand these rules and social standards keeps his life from falling apart. Without it he is nothing so he must burn everything in order to bring back the old him or so he thought. As well as conserving order he hates Désirée now for the fact that she tainted his family name with her blackness. Yet just as he wanted to destroy his new life with he finds out new information about him that he will never forget. This shows the huge mistake that he has made and claims him responsible for the destruction of his own…