Socialization into the social system we call patriarchy starts at birth when we put pink on "beautiful" and "angelic" girls and blue on "handsome" and "tough" baby boys. We hold baby girls so they can see into our faces, as we talk to them. We hold baby boys so they can see what's going on in the room. That's how the process begins. We are the recipients, either willingly or unwillingly, of a patriarchal legacy. What probably began in prehistoric times as a cooperative system for survival has become an albatross. We are stuck with living in a patriarchal society where women are oppressed. And it is certainly not a local phenomenon. "Desiree's Baby" and "No Name Woman" are two stories from far-off cultures, but patriarchy as a system is as much in evidence in those places, if not more so, as it is here. In this essay we will compare and contrast the two stories, explore the nature and resolution of the conflict in each story, and the characters, setting, and themes.

             In both stories the birth of a child triggers the central conflict. In "Desiree's Baby" the baby, born into a rich plantation family, is black in a society where black slaves are treated as the lowest and most contemptible of all human beings. In "No Name Woman" the child is illegitimate, the result of adultery, and thought to be the reason for poor crops, illness, and bad fortune in the community. In both stories the mother is blamed. Desiree, who just "appeared" one day on a doorstep when she was very young is assumed to be the carrier of African genes. Because the baby is black, it must have got its "blackness" from Desiree whose background is unknown. In "No Name Woman" the narrator's aunt had sexual relations, no one knows whether consensual or not, with someone while her husband was away working. In both stories, the fathers themselves blame the mothers. In "Desiree" the husband learns to hate his once-beloved wife because of his shame and embarrassment in the community.