Desiree's Baby Sexism
Sexism and Racism will Lead to Grief. Proven by Kate Chopin
The theme of a story serves one of two basic purposes. It can either show that the author made a serious and thorough attempt at documenting or revealing an essential truth about life or it can show the author purposefully introduced some concept of life as a unifying element that the story highlights. A theme captures one of those purposes and displays it as the controlling idea in the story (Perrine 209). In the short story “Desiree's Baby”, written by Kate Chopin, there are many smaller outlier themes including the themes of judging by appearances and what is “true” love. These themes are included in the story to expand upon two essential truths and to include more interest in the …show more content…
Chopin wants the reader to understand the social hierarchy that controlled the people of the south in the mid-nineteenth century. There is obvious racial and gender bias throughout the whole piece which was a an unfailingly present aspect of life in pre-civil war Louisiana. This theme is illustrated with the examples Chopin gives. As it is with many Southern men of this time period, Armand Aubigny believes that white people are superior to black people and white men are superior to white woman. As master of his plantation, Armand treats his slaves harshly enough that Désirée comments on it in a letter to her mother. He believes that because his slaves are black they are less than human and deserve to be treated as such. Armands attitude towards his black slaves captures and documents a concept of life in Louisiana in the mid-nineteenth century. His manner does soften when Désirée gives birth to a baby boy, but this only reveals his gender bias as the new mother observes "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. But I know it isn't true.” (Chopin) This reveals that even for his own child, Armand values a boy more then a girl which illustrates the essential truth of how the gender bias in the mid-nineteenth century
The theme of a story serves one of two basic purposes. It can either show that the author made a serious and thorough attempt at documenting or revealing an essential truth about life or it can show the author purposefully introduced some concept of life as a unifying element that the story highlights. A theme captures one of those purposes and displays it as the controlling idea in the story (Perrine 209). In the short story “Desiree's Baby”, written by Kate Chopin, there are many smaller outlier themes including the themes of judging by appearances and what is “true” love. These themes are included in the story to expand upon two essential truths and to include more interest in the …show more content…
Chopin wants the reader to understand the social hierarchy that controlled the people of the south in the mid-nineteenth century. There is obvious racial and gender bias throughout the whole piece which was a an unfailingly present aspect of life in pre-civil war Louisiana. This theme is illustrated with the examples Chopin gives. As it is with many Southern men of this time period, Armand Aubigny believes that white people are superior to black people and white men are superior to white woman. As master of his plantation, Armand treats his slaves harshly enough that Désirée comments on it in a letter to her mother. He believes that because his slaves are black they are less than human and deserve to be treated as such. Armands attitude towards his black slaves captures and documents a concept of life in Louisiana in the mid-nineteenth century. His manner does soften when Désirée gives birth to a baby boy, but this only reveals his gender bias as the new mother observes "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. But I know it isn't true.” (Chopin) This reveals that even for his own child, Armand values a boy more then a girl which illustrates the essential truth of how the gender bias in the mid-nineteenth century