Desirees Baby

A detailed Summary of Desirees Baby

The 19th century was a difficult time for many women and blacks because of the domination of white men over them. The social and economic hardships they faced in day to day life was a constant reminder of this domination. The social ideology in the story "Desiree's Baby" was powerful and dangerous and held no escape for any character.

A woman with small children who lost her husband would face extreme hardships without the support of close family members. One who happened to be down on their luck would not find much sympathy among their peers even with children. Kate Chopin was one of these individuals who was down on her luck with six children. But fortunately had the support and comfort of her mother for a short period before her mother passed away. A friend advised this mother of six children that writing was a way to solve her problems concerning money and help deal with her grief. Maternal love and all the grief from losing loved ones were to be an attribute to the writing proficiency of this literary artist.

This period in Louisiana was not tolerant for mixed ancestry and one found to be non-white would be ostracized from the white community. There were some whites in Louisiana who was not racist but they would still

have to follow a strict code of segregation and social guidelines or risk social or bodily death. Kate Chopin was born fourteen years before slavery was abolished so must have had strong feeling on the subject. She no doubt saw mixed ancestry in the black communities and realized the cause of it. This story crosses the line into the covert world of mixed ancestry and the problems it produced. The racism in the story is not discussed openly but is prudently mixed in with Armand's atrocious character and his evil soul. Armand's evil was deep as he forsakes his loving wife, infant son, and God.

Ker, Christina. "Kate Chopin" Empire Zine. 1998 *http://www.spydersempire.com/empirezine/features/august/chopin.htm 7August1998

Hurley, Jennifer A., "Racism." Current Controversies. San Diego: Green Haven Press, 1998

Hoffman, Abudrey B. "Kate Chopin" *http://www.kutztown.edu/faculty/reagan/chopin.html

The quadroon boy is one quarter Negro ancestry and so his mother La Blanch is also of mixed ancestry. This is important to know because Armand compares Desiree with that of La Blanch when he tells her she is not white. Armand was quoted as hearing the baby crying from "as far away as La Blanch's cabin"(2), the reason he was at the cabin could be he was using La Blanch sexually. This would explain the quadroon boys. The practice of raping a slave or employee in those days was not uncommon. Desiree compares her skin color to that of Armand who is much darker than she is but he is not bothered by this inconsistency in his reasoning.

Madame Valmonde noticed the baby's mixed ancestry immediately when she went for a visit, exclaiming out loud at first sight of him "this is not the baby"(2), Desiree thought she was referring to how big the baby had grown. Madame Valmonde looked closely at the baby and new that it was indeed of mixed ancestry but did not mention it to her daughter, this I believe was her way of hoping for the best. Madame Valmonde was wealthy but knew her influence would not be enough to help if anyone found out the baby was black. This would also mean certain social destruction for Desiree having given birth to a black child.

Some common words found in the essay are:
La Blanch, Kate Chopin, Desiree's Baby, Madame Valmonde, Fear Armand, Armand Aubigny, La Blanche's, , L'Abri Armand, Abri Desiree, mixed ancestry, madame valmonde, kate chopin, la blanch, desiree's baby, baby desiree, desiree baby, help found, psychotic episode, baby black,

Approximate Word count = 1480
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels