Desiree's Baby

Désirée’s Baby is a short story written by American author Kate Chopin, published in 1893, it is about miscegenation in Creole Louisiana during the antebellum period.

Plot summary

Désirée is the adopted daughter of Monsieur and Madame Valmondé, who are wealthy Creoles in Louisiana. As a baby, she was discovered by Monsieur Valmondé lying in the shadow of a stone pillar near the Valmondé gateway. She is courted by another wealthy, well-known and respected scion of a Creole family, Armand. They appear very devoted to one another and eventually have a child. People who see the baby get a sense that something is unusual about it. Eventually they realize that the baby's skin is the same color as a quadroon (one-quarter African) slave boy - the baby is not white. At the setting of the story, this would have been considered a terrible taint.

Because of Désirée’s unknown roots, Armand immediately assumes that she is part Black, leading him to be mean to his slaves. Désirée tries to deny the accusation but Madame Valmondé suggests that Désirée and the baby return to the Valmondé estate. Armand, scornful with Désirée, insists on her going. Désirée then takes the child and walks off into a bayou, never to be seen again. Armand then proceeds to burn all of Désirée’s belongings, even the child’s cradle, as well as all of the letters that she had sent him during their courtship. With this bundle of letters is also one written from his mother to his father, revealing that Armand is, in fact, the one who is part black. Désirée's race is never definitively determined, although after she is dismissed:

"Moreover [Armand] no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.."

Themes and literary classification

Though Kate Chopin is usually considered to be a writer of American realism, and naturalism, the story is difficult to classify, in part because it is extremely short. The fact that the story leaves the moral statement up to the reader would suggest that it is of naturalism, but the fairytale-like elements of the love story are inconsistent with either naturalism or realism. Furthermore the atmosphere of the story and the characterization of Armand create gothic undertones.

The themes in Désirée’s Baby include American slavery, miscegenation, and the difficulty of assigning race. It could also be argued that the story is a work of early feminism.

The story also seems to be a transposition of De Maupassant's "The Story of A Farm Girl."

Analysis

According to Thomas Votteler, editor of Short Story Criticisms: Volume 8, over the years Kate Chopin has emerged as one of the greatest as well as most admired American short story writers, novelists, poets, and essayists. In many of Chopin’s stories she has transcended simple regionalism and portrayed women who seek spiritual and sexual freedom amidst the restrictive mores of nineteenth-century Southern society ^[1]. Cynthia Griffin Wolf, a critic, agrees that “The vision in all of Chopin’s best fiction is consummately interior, and it draws for strength upon her willingness to confront the bleak fact of life’s tenuous stabilities” ^[2]. One of the greatest examples of that willingness that Chopin wanted to express was presented in the short story “Désirée’s Baby.” In this story, it not only confronts the racial issues that took place during the time of slavery but also draws upon the reader’s emotions to experience how people thought during that time period. Kate Chopin brought attention to the racial issues that existed during the times of slavery through her short story “Désirée’s Baby” which introduces the two main characters in the story, Désirée and Armand, and creates many symbolisms, ironies, and themes seen throughout the story.

Armand, and Désirée are the two main characters that are talked about in the story “Désirée’s Baby.” There are many symbols seen throughout the story “Désirée’s Baby.” The first major symbolism seen continuously throughout the story is that of light and dark. Irony plays a big part in the story. There are many outlying themes in the story “Désirée’s Baby.” One of the themes that Kate Chopin wanted readers to understand was that nothing good could come from making too rash of assumptions or being too quick to judge someone or something. This story obviously identifies racial issues, but more than that the story allows the reader to see that Armand is as much a slave as the actual slaves that he controls. These themes reach deep into the reader’s mind and really makes the reader think about the many issues of race in society today as well as the racial issues of the past. Kate Chopin wrote the story “Désirée’s Baby” with a general idea of what she wanted to say. She brings together these two characters that are completely different and opposite of each other. Armand and Désirée have many differences beginning with where they come from, their family background, and their overall personalities. Throughout the story there are also many symbolic, ironic, and general themes given to the reader to interpret and think about.

Footnotes

1. ^ Votteler, p63
2. ^ Wolf, p83

References

• Chopin, Kate. Desiree’s Baby, 1893
• Arner, Robert D. “Pride and Prejudice: Kate Chopin.” Short Story Criticisms: Excerpts of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Vol. 8. London: Gale Research Inc., 1972.
• Chopin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby.” Literature and Ourselves: A Thematic Introduction for Readers and Writers. By: Gloria Mason Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Stevenson Waller. 5th edition. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2006. 328-332.
• Ewell, Barbara C. “Kate Chopin.” Short Story Criticisms: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Vol. 8. London: Gale Research Inc., 1986.
• Votteler, Thomas, ed. Short Story Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Vol. 8. London: Gale Research Inc., 1991.
• Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. “Kate Chopin and the Fiction of Limits: Desiree’s Baby.” Short Story Criticisms: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1978.

External links

• Online copy of Désirée’s Baby from The University of Virginia: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ChoDesi.html