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“Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin Essay

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Introduction

Culture and identity, summaries of three sources, works cited.

Desiree’s Baby, authored by Kate Chopin, is a bittersweet short story with an ironic ending. The plot centers on Armand, a wealthy landowner in Louisiana falls for and marries Desiree, a woman of unknown heritage. Later, the couple bears a son with a black skin color, which, according to Armand, comes from Desiree. However, in a twist turn of events, Armand learns that he has a French ancestry, which may have contributed to the child’s mixed heritage.

In this story, the author examines the theme of race and identity by hiding Desiree’s identity. Throughout the story, Desiree’s real identity is a mystery to both Armand and Valmonde who raised her. By disclosing Armand’s mixed heritage, which led to some form of identity crisis towards the end of the narrative, Chopin shows that knowing one’s cultural background is important in identity development. This research essay explores the theme of identity and the role it played in plot development in Chopin’s short story.

In the story, it is evident that knowing one’s identity and origin helps a person connect with the society. The lack of knowledge about a person’s origin affects one relates with others in the society, especially race relations. After Monsieur Valmonde adopts her, rumors emerge about her unknown identity.

Before her marriage, Valmonde tells Armand that “the girl’s obscure origin” could affect his social relations and standing leading to a hasty wedding (Chopin 3). In addition, after the baby is born, his black traits heighten the mystery of Desiree’s heritage. On the other hand, Armand’s aristocratic lineage and “dark, handsome face” do not raise suspicion that he could be from “the race cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin 5).

Critics argue that the story’s focus on “the quaint and picturesque life among the Creole and Acadian folk of the Louisiana bayous” (Rankin 124) is an indication mixed heritage can affect identity formation. In addition, the story contains “Southern elements and regional dialects” (Bloom 85), which indicates that Chopin is using a local interpretation to illustrate social relations in Louisiana. Thus, in the story, Desiree’s unknown identity prevents her from fully integrating into her new home and marriage.

Culture and identity also help one to develop a deep sense of the self. A person develops a sense of self-awareness through experience and culture. Initially, Desiree is depicted as white when adorning “soft white muslin and laces” (Chopin 4), but later Armand doubts her whiteness. She defends herself by claiming, “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray” (Chopin 4).

Her sentiments show that, given her unknown heritage, she doubted her ‘whiteness’, which affected her ego. Moreover, Chopin describes her as a “silent, white, and motionless” (6) individual, unlike Armand, who comes from a wealthy aristocratic family and commands great respect and power.

Arner writes that Chopin’s “profound irony and reversal of racial identity” helps develop a sense of justice on the part of the readers (34). It shows that people with an inferior racial background develop a low self-esteem. In addition, Chopin’s association of “darkness with Armand and whiteness with Desiree” (Arner 36) symbolizes their true character and identity. However, Desiree’s unclear racial identity results in her underdeveloped sense of the self.

Culture and identity also define one’s destiny and condition in life. The human situation in the slavery era was determined by one’s ethnic background, where one race was considered superior to the other. In the story, Armand rejects the boy because of his skin color, which, he believes, makes the child inferior to him.

This forces Desiree to request Armand to leave to spare the child the humiliation and stigma. To convey their suffering, Chopin writes that Desiree, after leaving Armand, walks “under the live-oak branches across a deserted field where the stubble bruised her feet” (3). She treads along the “banks of the deep, sluggish bayou never to come back” (Chopin 5). The child’s black skin color wrongly portrayed her as one with an inferior racial identity, forcing her to leave Armand’s household.

Peel asserts that Chopin’s intention is to bring to the fore “the concerns of sex, race, and class” that dominated master-slave duality (223). The story illustrates the 19 th century relationships between whites and blacks as well as between men and women. On the other hand, Chopin reverses racial identities to “confuse the borders of race, gender, truth, and perception” (Peel 229). To Chopin, human interrelationships blur racial and gender boundaries.

Knowledge of one’s culture helps a person to embrace his/her identity and lead an authentic lifestyle. Identity is a means of advancing one’s aspirations and interests. In the story, Desiree’s unknown heritage affects her social status; she receives blame for the child’s skin color and as a result, she is expelled from her home.

Because she did not know her identity, she was not able to pursue her dreams and interests. Despite her skin being “lighter than Armand’s” (Chopin 3), she faces cruelty from Armand. Moreover, she does not retaliate, but remains “stone image: silent, white”, which portrays her as submissive and powerless due to her black heritage.

Commenting on Chopin’s story, Sollors notes that the racial boundary between whites and blacks is blurry because “some slaves are part white, while at least a few masters have a black heritage” (637). In the story, Armand, who, as we learn later, is part black, enjoys a higher social status by virtue of his aristocratic lineage. Sollors further writes that “blackness and whiteness” (639) in the story are discordant with the reality, which explains the characters’ twisted fates.

Identity also defines one’s character and worldviews. Culture shapes a person’s attitude, values, and beliefs, which play a role in interpersonal relationships. Armand is described as being of a dark appearance, which alludes to his cruelty towards Desiree and the slaves working on his plantation.

In one instance, Desiree responds to Armand “in a voice that must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice” (Chopin 3). This depicts Armand as a person with no sense of morality partly because he was brought up in a wealthy family. His unjust attitude makes many to believe that “God was paying him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife’s soul” (Chopin 4).

This description shows that Armand’s “dark personality” does not originate from his ancestry, but “the evil he embraced and incorporated into his identity” (Fox-Genovese 8). In this view, Chopin shows that Armand’s ignorance of his cultural background made him embrace evil values and beliefs that are not part of his culture. Fox-Genovese further notes that the “yellow nurse woman” in the story alludes to the “elements of both light and dark” that shape an individual’s identity and behavior (21).

In the story, the theme of identity is apparent during Madame Valmonde’s visit to Armand to see the baby. She holds the child close to the source of light to see his skin color. In another instance, Zandrine hides her shock from Madame Valmonde on realizing that the child is black. Desiree’s identity, as a “white married woman” is affected when it becomes apparent that the baby has a black heritage (Bornarito 17). The realization that she might have a mixed heritage changes her self-concept to the extent that she agrees to leave Armand’s household.

In the story, Chopin shows how an unknown identity can affect one’s societal standing and individual aspirations. Uncertainty over her heritage made Desiree a subject of cruelty and social stigma. On the other hand, the truth about Armand’s mixed heritage shows how his lack of knowledge of his origin shaped his opinion of the black race. Thus, knowledge of one’s culture helps construct individual identity and shapes views, self-concept, and relationships with others.

Arner, Robert. “Pride and Prejudice: Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby”. The Mississippi Quarterly 25 (1972): 131-140. Print.

The article is a commentary on racial relations in Desiree’s Baby. It examines dualities in the short story, such as white vs. black and dark vs. light as well the yellow color. It also examines identity formation risks in the story and the advancement of the ‘social self’ at the expense of the individual ego.

Bloom, Harold. Kate Chopin, Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Print.

The book is a collection of writings authored by literary critics of Chopin’s works. It also features Chopin’s biography and short stories, including Desiree’s Baby and the Awakening arranged in a chronological order. The literary critics comment on the romantic images, the plot, and the characters in Desiree’s Baby.

Peel, Ellen. “Semiotic Subversion in ‘Desiree’s Baby”. American Literature 62.2 (1990): 223-238. Print.

The article examines power relations in Desiree’s Baby, especially the oppression of women and blacks. In particular, the article analyzes the symbolism behind Desiree’s name, which means obsession with other people’s desires. The subversion of her desires leaves her devoid of her identity and interests.

Bornarito, Jessica. Chopin, Kate General Commentary : Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Print.

Chopin, Kate. Desiree’s Baby . New York: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 1893. Print.

Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth. “Between Individualism and Fragmentation: American Culture and the New Literary Studies of Race and Gender”. American Quarterly 42.1 (1990): 7-29. Print.

Rankin, Daniel. Kate Chopin and Her Creole Stories . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. Print.

Sollors, Werner. Neither Black nor White yet Both: Thematic Explorations of Interracial Literature. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

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Bibliography

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A Summary and Analysis of Kate Chopin’s ‘Désirée’s Baby’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Désirée’s Baby’, originally known by the longer title ‘The Father of Désirée’s Baby’, is an 1893 short story by the American writer Kate Chopin (1850-94). It is among Chopin’s most widely studied stories, partly because it deals with the subject of race as well as gender. The story tells of a woman who marries a plantation-owner; when she gives birth to their child, she is shocked to discover the baby is mixed-race.

Plot summary

Madame Valmondé drives to visit Désirée, her adopted daughter, who has recently married Armand Aubigny, who owns a Louisiana plantation. Désirée has recently given birth to a baby girl, and Madame Valmondé recollects how her husband had found the abandoned baby Désirée eighteen years earlier and the couple had adopted her as their own.

Armand Aubigny had recently started to notice Désirée blossoming into womanhood and fallen in love with her, and the couple had married. Aubigny has been living in Louisiana since coming to the United States from Paris at the age of eight, after his mother had died. He did not care about Désirée’s past as an orphan, and wanted to marry her regardless.

As Madame Valmondé approaches L’Abri, the name of Aubigny’s plantation, she reflects on how sad the place looks. The black slaves who work on the plantation know no happiness, in stark contrast to the relative contentment they had known when Aubigny’s father (now dead) had been the man in charge.

When Madame Valmondé sees Désirée’s baby, which is four weeks old, she is shocked by the young baby boy’s appearance. But Désirée is extremely happy, and tells her adoptive mother that her husband is a proud father who has not mistreated his slaves since his son was born. But three months after her baby’s birth, Désirée begins to sense something is amiss. Her husband becomes increasingly distant with her.

Eventually, when she confronts her husband over their child, he gruffly tells her that she is not white and must be of mixed race. Mortified, Désirée writes to her mother, asking her to refute the accusation against her. Madame Valmondé writes back, telling her to come home and to bring her child.

When she asks Aubigny what she should do, he tells her to go. He has fallen out of love with her because of the ‘unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.’

Désirée does not want to leave her husband, but when he makes no attempt to stop her, she makes the difficult journey to her adoptive mother’s, taking her baby with her. The story ends with Aubigny burning a series of items in a large bonfire, including some letters.

One of these letters was written by Aubigny’s mother and addressed to his father; this letter reveals that Aubigny has black ancestry, with his mother thanking God that she and her husband had so arranged their 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.’

Although the plot of Kate Chopin’s story appears to have been definitively resolved by the end of ‘Désirée’s Baby’, the twist ending is more ambiguous than it may first appear. After we have been led to believe that Désirée, whose biological parentage is unknown, is ‘responsible’ for the mixed-race appearance of her and Aubigny’s baby, the final paragraph reveals that Aubigny has black ancestry.

Indeed, there is even a question-mark hanging over how long Armand Aubigny has known about his own ancestry. Presumably he has known all along, and one might suspect that one of the reasons, perhaps even the chief reason, he was drawn to Désirée as a potential mother for his children was that she was ‘white’ enough for him to ensure (so he believed) that their children conceived together would not show any signs of his own mixed-race blood.

Désirée describes her own skin as ‘fair’ at one point, and Chopin makes numerous references to her ‘white’ clothes: after giving birth she is dressed in ‘her soft white muslins and laces’, and later she is in a ‘thin white garment’. These references to whiteness in relation to Désirée not only emphasise her ‘fair’ skin but also symbolise her purity and innocence: she is not guilty of committing any crime, and indeed, the end of the story suggests she wasn’t even unconsciously responsible for her child’s mixed-race blood.

Note the wording we use here, however: what the story does not reveal is that Aubigny but not D é sir é e is the parent with black ancestry. After all, it might still be both. A question mark hangs over Désirée’s racial heritage, and it remains possible that both of them have black ancestors.

Indeed, when the story was first published in Vogue magazine in 1893, it bore the longer title, ‘The Father of Désirée’s Baby’. This title threw the focus firmly onto Aubigny, rather than his child with Désirée; Chopin presumably shortened the title to remove this hint as to the story’s eventual revelation.

The eventual title also makes the child, but also Désirée herself, the focal point of the story. And Chopin makes it clear that becoming Aubigny’s wife but also the mother of their child has been a source of great happiness, not just for Désirée, but for her husband as well.

When doubts start to creep in surrounding the baby’s appearance and racial heritage, Chopin is inviting her readers to question whether such a development is worth sacrificing all of this new-found happiness over.

After all, Désirée has been faithful to Aubigny. The sacrament of their marriage remains intact. She has done nothing that would lead him to mistrust her or her fidelity to him.

Indeed, when the story’s omniscient third-person narrator switches to Aubigny and focalises the story through his eyes, it’s made clear that he acknowledges that the ‘injury’ she has brought on their home is ‘unconscious’ on her part: she did not deliberately seek to sabotage their happiness. It is the social stigma around miscegenation which is responsible for that.

And even if the twist ending of the story doesn’t definitively clear up the issue of Désirée’s ancestry, it does invite us to question the logic of apportioning ‘blame’ over such a matter. If Armand Aubigny, whose family name is one of the ‘proudest’ in Louisiana, cannot know his own racial heritage, how can Désirée be expected to know hers?

Miscegenation is the key theme of ‘Désirée’s Baby’. Miscegenation (the ‘mis-’ is actually from miscere , meaning ‘mix’: the word literally means ‘mixed race’, more or less) was a difficult and emotive topic in late-nineteenth-century America when Chopin was writing, and Aubigny, the white owner of a slave plantation, would have been even more aware of the problems attendant on siring a mixed-race baby: rumours would doubtless start that he had sired the child out of wedlock with one of his slaves, or that his wife had cuckolded him with one of the male slaves working for him.

There was also the racial hierarchy which was still very much in existence in the United States. Aubigny’s social position would be damaged by such a revelation. This is why he is more concerned by the ‘unconscious injury’ he perceives Désirée to have caused to ‘his home and his name’, i.e., his reputation.

However, it is worth noting that he was willing to accept his wife’s mysterious origins when he fell in love with her. Here Chopin has also raised the importance of names: Aubigny ‘was reminded that she was nameless’, we are told, but he was not bothered about her lack of family reputation or standing: ‘What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?’

But Désirée’s lack of a name will turn out to matter to him more than Armand Aubigny initially realised, since her lack of a name also suggests – perhaps wrongly, it turns out – that she was the product of miscegenation between a black slave and a white American. Chopin’s story reveals what a fraught and sensitive issue miscegenation could be for American families at this time, while also inviting us to question whether it is worth destroying one’s marital and parental happiness over.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Kate Chopin’s Désirée’s Baby

Analysis of Kate Chopin’s Désirée’s Baby

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 23, 2021

Kate Chopin ’s brief but mesmerizing story opens in medias res , with Madame Valmonde preparing to visit her adopted daughter, Desiree, recently married to the wealthy Louisiana plantation owner Armand d’Aubigny and even more recently delivered of a baby girl. Then, in a series of flashbacks, the narrator reveals Desiree’s uncertain origins as a foundling, her beauty as she grew to womanhood, and Armand’s passionate proposal of marriage. The narrator then returns to the present and, using briefl y effective images, sketches the hierarchical plantation system of whites, quadroons, and blacks. Using Mme. Valmonde’s perspective, the narrator reveals that the baby does not look white—and so the tragedy of this story moves rapidly to its completion.

It is difficult to imagine a reader who would not be horrified and disgusted by the results of the racism and sexism that permeate this story. No one could believe that Armand Aubigny’s inhuman cruelty to his wife, Desiree, and his child is warranted. The only real uncertainty for the reader concerns Armand’s foreknowledge of his own parentage: Did he know that his mother had Negro blood before he married Desiree, or did he discover her revealing letter later on? If he did know beforehand (and it is difficult to believe that he did not), his courtship of and marriage to Desiree were highly calculated actions, with Desiree chosen because she was the perfect woman to be used in an “experimental” reproduction. If their child(ren) “passed” as white, Armand would be pleased and would keep the marriage intact. If not, Desiree, the foundling, would be the perfect victim to take the blame.

Kate Chopin/The New York Public Library

This may seem to be judging Armand too harshly, because the narrator does describe his great passion for Desiree, so suddenly and furiously ignited. Certainly Armand behaves as a man in love. But Chopin inserts a few subtle remarks that allow us to question this, at least in hindsight: “The wonder was that he had not loved her before; for he had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his mother died there.” It does seem unlikely that a man of Armand’s temperament would conceive this sudden intense desire for “the girl next door,” a sweet, naive young woman whom he has known for most of his life. Right from the beginning, Chopin also reveals details about his character that are unsettling, even to the innocent and loving Desiree. The basic cruelty of Armand’s nature is hinted at throughout the story, particularly regarding his severe treatment of “his negroes,” which is in notably sharp contrast to his father’s example.

Armand’s reputation as a harsh slave master supports the presumption that he has known about his own part-Negro ancestry all along. He did not learn this behavior from his father, who was “easy-going and indulgent” in his dealings with the slaves. The knowledge that some of his own ancestors spring from the same “race of slavery” would surely be unbearable to the proud, “imperious” Armand, and the rage and shame that this knowledge brings would easily be turned against the blacks around him. In much the same way, when Armand realizes that his baby is visibly racially mixed, he vents his fury viciously on his slaves, the “very spirit of Satan [taking] hold of him.”

Modern readers will find many disturbing aspects to this story. The seemingly casual racism is horrifying. Feminists are likely to take exception (as they sometimes do to Chopin’s The Awakening) to Desiree’s passive acceptance of Armand’s rejection of her and his child and her apparently deliberate walk into the bayou. Suicide is not the strong woman’s answer to the situation, but Desiree is definitely not a strong woman. What she does have is wealthy parents who love her and are willing to take care of her and the baby. Why does she feel that she has to end her life? Gender and class roles and structures were so rigid in this period that it was impossible for a woman to cross those lines very far; the racial barrier was the most rigid of all. No mixing of black and white blood would ever be condoned in that society, so Desiree’s baby would never find acceptance anywhere. Desiree is not able to see a viable way out of her terrifying situation, and her view is not entirely unrealistic, considering her time and place. As she has done in her other stories, Kate Chopin realistically depicts the cruelty and horror of a social structure that totally denies power to women, children, the poor, and most of all, blacks.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Chopin, Kate. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Edited by Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969. Koloski, Bernard. Kate Chopin: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1996.

Désirée’s Baby

Kate chopin, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Kate Chopin's Désirée’s Baby . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Désirée’s Baby: Introduction

Désirée’s baby: plot summary, désirée’s baby: detailed summary & analysis, désirée’s baby: themes, désirée’s baby: quotes, désirée’s baby: characters, désirée’s baby: symbols, désirée’s baby: literary devices, désirée’s baby: quiz, désirée’s baby: theme wheel, brief biography of kate chopin.

Historical Context of Désirée’s Baby

Other books related to désirée’s baby.

Full Title: Désirée’s Baby
When Written: 1892
Where Written: St. Louis, Missouri
When Published: 1893
Literary Period: American Realism and Naturalism
Genre: Realistic fiction
Setting: Louisiana, mid-nineteenth century
Climax: Désirée and her baby set off into the Bayou never to return. Too late, Armand discovers a letter from his mother to his father that reveals his, rather than Désirée’s, black heritage.
Antagonist: The prevailing prejudice of the racist and sexist culture of the setting; Armand as a figure who holds these prejudiced beliefs
Point of View: third-person omniscient

Extra Credit for Désirée’s Baby

The Story of a Farm Girl . Désirée’s Baby bears interesting resemblance to a short story called “The Story of Farm Girl” by popular French writer Guy de Maupassant. In this story, a young farm girl has a child with a lover who abandons her. Years later, she and her husband cannot have children, but are able to adopt her long lost child as their own. Chopin’s work is considered an intentional transposition of this text.

Vogue Magazine. Désirée’s Baby was initially published in Vogue Magazine. While contemporary readers might identify this publication primarily with popular fashion, Vogue was founded in 1892 (just before Chopin’s inclusion) as a publication to celebrate “the ceremonial side of life.” It catered primarily to New York aristocracy.

Desiree’s Baby

Desiree’s baby summary.

The story opens with Madame Valmonde traveling to L`Abri. She is actually visiting her step-daughter, Desiree because she has recently given birth to a baby. Madame Valmonde is visiting them to see Desiree and her baby. On her way to L`Abri, Madame Valmonde reminds how the little girl Desiree came into her family. The little girl was a youngster when Monsieur Valmonde found her in the plantation region of Valmonde.

She reaches the house and sees that Desiree is lying on the couch and she is holding her baby in her lap. She notices that the baby is not like the other babies but she does not give Desiree any hint of that. She asks Desiree what are Armand`s thoughts about the baby.

Desiree argues and fights with the husband that the revelation is not true and it is a white life. She claims that she, along with her baby, is white but her husband tells her that if they are white then why does the baby bear resemblance to the slave kid. He gets angry and leaves the room.

Background of the Story

The setting of the story, themes in desiree’s baby, racial discrimination.

He never thinks that he can actually turn out to be black. He thinks that a black wife is a shame to his name and he leaves Desiree. He thinks that he has wasted all his years with his wife and now the child is a definite shame to his family name. Desiree pleads before him that it is not the truth but he does not believe her. He would have never believed but when he reads the letter he convinces himself the child had a dark complexion because he himself belongs to the black race. In the end, he is feeling guilty as what he did to Desiree but all in vain.

The Intersection of Classism, Sexism and Racism

The striking goals of the short story, wherein Armand has Desiree’s assets decimated in a blaze, show how class, sex, and race associate socially. Armand consumes Desiree’s assets to free him of recollections and signs of her. Since these recollections are physical articles, his activities are again decreasing Desiree to a belonging.

She grows up to be a beautiful lady and then gets married to Armand. When Desiree acknowledged Armand’s opinion of racial background about the baby, she wrote a letter to Madame Valmonde. The Madame sends back a concise answer that my own Desiree, Come home to Valmonde and be back to your mom who cherishes her. She also tells her to bring her child. It is more than clear that paying little heed to every one of that has occurred, Valmonde eagerly advises Desiree to return home.

After his love marriage, he changed in his treatment of others, especially his dark slaves. He even giggles when one man claims to be harmed to avoid work, as Desiree reports to her mother. Indeed, even Armand’s physical highlights change affected by his adoration for Desiree and his face is helped and he grins as opposed to scowling.

Characters Analysis

Madame valmonde, monsieur valmonde, armand aubigny.

He is a wealthy businessman. He was eight years old when his mother died in Paris. After the death of his mother, he moved to L`Abri along with his father. He falls in love with Desiree when he is only eighteen. He is in deep love with the girl and wants to marry her at any cost. Before the marriage, Valmonde tells him to see the family background of Desiree but he is so blindfolded by his love that he does not even bother to look for that.

Mrs. Aubigny

Literary analysis, point of view.

Chopin also talks about the implications of racism in her society. The reactions of people towards the baby of Desiree show that people had racist attitudes towards each and everyone and that it had been inculcated into their minds. Madame Valmonde senses that the baby does not belong to the pure white race but she does not say anything. She gets to know that the baby would be suffering in future because of the cultural heritage and this comes true just after three months of his birth.

Desiree’s correspondence with Armand demonstrates the powerlessness of Desiree by the hands of Armand. This is clear when Desiree understands her child is not white she can refuse the claim of her husband but she does not. This provides him the strength to overlook his own cultural heritage and pass judgment on Desiree`s cultural background. His comments are a racist comment when he says that It implies that the youngster isn’t white; it implies that you (Desiree) are not white. Both Armand and Desiree are the guardians of the child, yet just Desiree is straightforwardly blamed for nonwhite legacy.

Until the encounter with Armand, Desiree has appeared to be fundamentally substance to live inside the requirements of her community. She experienced passionate feelings for the man who chose to wed her, and she acknowledged his furious nature as an unchangeable unavoidable truth. In any case, when Armand discloses to Desiree she is not white, she conflicts with her tendency and contends with him. She does not retaliate rather she accepts the claim as a submissive and oppressive lady of the society

Desiree doesn’t blame Armand for having a nonwhite legacy and this is indistinct whether she speculates it. Maybe she makes an unpretentious allegation when she brings up and claims the color of her skin is more white than Armand`s. Armand closes her down effectively, saying her skin and the skin of La Blanche is similarly white. La Blanche, whose name signifies the white one, will be one of the slaves at L’Abri. A few insights in the story recommend that Armand has fathered at least one of her kids. The storyteller says that Armand is talking remorselessly when he analyzes Desiree and the maid at the same level. This might be on the grounds that he is comparing Desiree with the maid or in light of the fact that he is helping his wife to remember that only he has got the ability to do to ladies like La Blanche.

The portrayals of Desiree’s appearance all through the story supports the idea of Desiree being white. For instance, when she inquires as to whether he wants Desiree to leave his house, she remains quiet, white, and still. She, then, strolls toward the inlet, the storyteller underscores the brilliant sparkle of Desiree`s hair. Nonetheless, it is imperative to take note of Desiree`s African legacy. As the story clarifies, there would be no simple method for characterizing racial highlights. One the moral message in this story is that it is difficult to understand the realities about anybody’s legacy and that putting a lot of significance on that legacy could prompt disaster.

A man like Augbiny is a victim of society and its organizations like servitude. A man invests his energy to developing slavery and racism and at last, these two things swallow their lives into the obscure. Slavery and racism are intended to serve the enthusiasm of whites however it is amusing that they again devastate him particularly when Augbiny finds that he also is dark. Augbiny anticipates that his dreams should be genuine therefore lays every one of his expectations in shading. In the event that it is currently white, he doesn’t need anything to do with it. He erroneously expects that society will acknowledge him since he has a discarded family just to find that he also is dark.

More From Kate Chopin

Short stories.

Desiree's Baby

by Kate Chopin

Desiree's Baby Summary

The story opens with Madame Valmonde visiting Desiree and her baby. On her way to L’Abri, she reminisces about Desiree’s childhood. Desiree was a foundling discovered by Monsieur Valmonde . He found her "lying in the shadow of the big stone pillar," as he was galloping through the gateway to Valmonde. The general opinion was that she was left behind by a "party of Texans," but Madame Valmonde believed Desiree was sent to her by God as she was not able to have her own children.

Eighteen years later, Armand Aubigny all of a sudden falls in love with Desiree when he sees her standing against the stone pillar, even though they knew each other since they were small children, ever since Armand and his father came from Paris, after his mother died. Monsieur Valmonde proposes that before their relationship becomes more serious, Desiree’s origin should be examined. However, Armand is so in love that he does not care about Desiree’s ancestors and decides it does not matter that she does not have a family name of her own, if he can give her a perfectly good one, and so they get married.

Madame Valmonde has a surprise awaiting her. She has not seen the baby for a month and when she arrives to L’Abri she is shocked to see the baby's appearance. Desiree remarks about how much he has grown. However, it is apparent that she does not see anything wrong with her son. She is very happy. Ever since the baby was born, her husband Armand, who was very strict and harsh, has softened a great deal.

When the baby is three months old, the situation in the house changes. Desiree senses there is something wrong. On top of that, Armand becomes cold and avoids both Desiree and the baby. One afternoon Desiree is sitting in her room and starts observing her child and a little quadroon boy who was fanning it. The similarity between them frightens her and she sends the boy away.

When Armand arrives back home, Desiree asks him about the baby. He responds that indeed the baby is not white, which means that she is not white either. Desiree points out all her physical features that strongly suggest that she is white, but her angry husband tells her she is as white as their mixed-race slaves.

Desperate, Desiree writes to her mother, Madame Valmonde, asking for help. Madame Valmonde tells her to come back home because she still loves her. Afterwards, Desiree asks her husband about his opinion and he sends her away. As a result of that, Desiree takes her baby and leaves the house. However, she does not take the road leading to the Valmonde, but instead she disappears in the bayou.

Several weeks after, Armand sets up a bonfire to get rid of Desiree’s belongings. Among the stuff he decides to throw away, Armand finds several letters. Most of them are "little scribblings" Desiree sent him in the days of their engagement, but he also finds one that is addressed from his mother to his father. In the letter, his mother thanks God for her husband’s love, but she also reveals that she is grateful that her son will never know that his mother "belongs to the race that is cursed by slavery."

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Desiree’s Baby Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Desiree’s Baby is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why was madame valmonde amused at the thought of Desiree ' s baby

In Kate Chopin's short story "Desiree's Baby," Madame Valmonde, Desiree's adoptive mother, is initially amused at the thought of Desiree's baby because she finds it unexpected and ironic. Madame Valmonde had not anticipated that Desiree, who was...

In the story's opening, a flashback, Chopin provides an insight into the speed with which Armand chooses to marry Desiree, not really caring about her background, despite Monsieur Valmondé's insistence to the contrary.

“Monsieur Valmondé grew...

Desiree’s baby

She was a baby younger than on year old when she was found.

Study Guide for Desiree’s Baby

Desiree's Baby study guide contains a biography of Kate Chopin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About Desiree's Baby
Character List

Essays for Desiree’s Baby

Desiree's Baby essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin.

The Glass Ceiling in Relation to Happiness
Symbolism, Setting and Sexism in 'Desiree's Baby'
The Architect of His Own Destruction
How the Southern Hierarchy "Others" Black Women in Literature: Absalom, Absalom!, "That Evening Sun Goes Down," and "Desiree's Baby"
Desiree’s Triple Consciousness: Gender and Racial Prejudice in “Désirée’s Baby”

Wikipedia Entries for Desiree’s Baby

Introduction

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This website is dedicated to English Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, English Language and its teaching and learning.

“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin: Analysis

“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, a short story appeared in Vogue magazine in 1893 centers on Désirée, a young woman who marries into a prominent Louisiana family.

Introduction: “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

“Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, a short story appeared in Vogue magazine in 1893 centers on Désirée, a young woman who marries into a prominent Louisiana family. However, a secret concerning race and identity disrupts their seemingly idyllic life. Though initially controversial for its subject matter, Chopin’s masterful storytelling and exploration of complex themes, particularly racial prejudice and personal identity, have ensured the story’s enduring popularity. “Désirée’s Baby” cemented Chopin’s reputation as a pioneering feminist voice, and her work continues to resonate with readers and scholars alike.

Main Events in “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

A wealthy landowner, Armand Aubigny, falls in love with a young girl named Desiree and marries her.
Desiree gives birth to a baby boy, but soon Armand begins to notice that the child’s skin is dark, and he accuses Desiree of being of mixed race.
Desiree insists that she is white and suggests that the child may have inherited his skin color from her husband’s family.
Armand becomes increasingly angry and demands that Desiree and the baby leave his home.
Desiree takes the baby and disappears.
Armand burns all of Desiree’s belongings and discovers a letter from his mother to his father, revealing that Armand’s mother was of mixed race.
Armand realizes that he is the one with African ancestry and that he has treated his wife and child unjustly.
Armand tries to find Desiree and the baby but does not succeed.
Time passes, and people notice that Armand’s behavior has changed, and he becomes reclusive and sad.
The story ends with the reveal that the baby’s true biological father was a man of mixed race who was well-respected by the community.

Literary Devices in “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

Allusion : A reference to another literary work, historical event, or cultural phenomenon. Example: “She turned and regarded him with eyes that were clear and steady but not proud.” (Alludes to the Bible verse Proverbs 31:30: “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”)
Characterization : The use of description and dialogue to create a character. Example: The character of Armand is revealed through his treatment of Desiree and his family history.
Conflict : The struggle between two opposing forces. Example: The conflict between Desiree and Armand over their child’s race.
Foreshadowing : A hint or clue about events that will happen later in the story. Example: The fact that Armand’s mother’s portrait is hidden away foreshadows the reveal about his family history.
Hyperbole : Exaggerated language used for emphasis or effect. Example: “Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name.”
Imagery : The use of vivid descriptions to create sensory experiences for the reader. Example: “The sun was shining brightly upon the clearing, and there was a great fluttering of the cottonwood leaves.”
Irony : The use of language to convey a meaning opposite to its literal meaning. Example: The fact that Armand accuses Desiree of being of mixed race when it is he who has African ancestry is an example of dramatic irony.
Metaphor : A comparison between two unlike things. Example: “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.”
Motif : A recurring image or idea. Example: The motif of whiteness, which symbolizes purity and innocence, is present throughout the story.
Personification : Giving human qualities to non-human things. Example: “The very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves.”
Point of View : The perspective from which the story is told. Example: “Desiree’s Baby” is told from a third-person limited point of view, focusing on Desiree’s experiences and thoughts.
Setting : The time and place in which the story takes place. Example: “Desiree’s Baby” is set in Louisiana in the late 19th century.
Simile : A comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”. Example: “The smile that she gave him was at once childlike and like the old woman.”
Symbolism : The use of an object or image to represent something else. Example: The baby’s skin color is a symbol of racial identity and prejudice.
Tone : The attitude of the author toward the subject matter or characters. Example: The tone of “Desiree’s Baby” is serious and somber, reflecting the gravity of the themes explored in the story.

Characterization in “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

Major characters:.

Désirée: The protagonist of the story, Désirée is a young, beautiful, and innocent girl who is abandoned as a baby and taken in by Monsieur and Madame Valmondé. She later marries Armand Aubigny and has a child with him.
Armand Aubigny: A wealthy plantation owner and the husband of Désirée. He is initially portrayed as a loving and devoted husband and father but later becomes cruel and abusive.
Madame Valmondé: The woman who finds and takes in Désirée as a baby. She later visits her daughter and grandson at the Aubigny plantation and is shocked by the events that unfold.

Minor characters:

La Blanche: A slave on the Aubigny plantation who becomes Armand’s mistress and the mother of his child.
Zandrine: A slave who works for Désirée and helps her take care of her baby.
Monsieur Valmondé: The husband of Madame Valmondé and Désirée’s biological father. He is only briefly mentioned in the story.

Major Themes in “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

Racial Prejudice and Hypocrisy: “Désirée’s Baby” unflinchingly explores the pervasiveness of racial prejudice in the antebellum South. The discovery of Désirée’s ancestry, likely mixed race based on the “one-drop rule,” exposes the arbitrary cruelty of this system. Armand’s horrified reaction (“It is a cursed race…”) reveals the deep-seated racism that underpins seemingly idyllic Southern society. This hypocrisy is further emphasized by the existence of characters like Madame Aubigny, a free woman of color, who occupies an ambiguous social position.
Deception and Identity Crisis: The story revolves around a central deception: Désirée’s complete ignorance of her racial background. This revelation shatters her sense of self and belonging. Her desperate cry, “Tell me! What does it mean?” underscores the profound identity crisis she faces.
Love’s Conditional Nature: Armand’s initial passionate love for Désirée proves fragile in the face of her heritage. His complete rejection exposes the limitations of love conditioned by societal prejudices. This reinforces the story’s critique of a society where love is contingent upon racial purity.
Female Powerlessness in a Patriarchal Society: Désirée, lacking control over her past or her future, embodies the powerlessness of women in the patriarchal South. Confined by societal expectations, she is abandoned and ostracized. This is evident when she is forced to leave with only “the clothes she wore and the little bundle clasped in her desperate arms.”

Writing Style in “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

Evocative Imagery: Chopin paints vivid pictures of the Louisiana setting, from the “colonnaded” mansion to “the bayou” with its lush vegetation, enhancing atmosphere and symbolism.
Ominous Foreshadowing: The description of “the yellow nurse woman” and the baby’s “darkening” skin subtly hint at the impending tragedy concerning race and heritage.
Dramatic Irony: Armand’s pride in L’Abri, unaware of its potentially ironic name (meaning “shelter”), foreshadows the disruption his prejudice will cause.
Objective Yet Emotionally Charged Narration: Chopin remains non-judgmental, yet skillfully evokes feelings of pity for Désirée (“Poor child!”) and contempt for Armand’s cruelty (“…blood that beat strong…as if all the rest of the world was but an atom…”)

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin


	The story exposes the limitations and oppression faced by women in a patriarchal society. Désirée lacks control over her past and future, ultimately ostracized for something beyond her control.	* Désirée’s dependence on men for her identity: “Madame Aubigny had adopted her, reared her, and educated her…” * Limited options upon societal rejection: “…walking away like a somnambulist…”
	The story critiques the hypocrisy and cruelty of racial prejudice in the antebellum South. Désirée’s ostracization based on the “one-drop rule” exposes the arbitrary nature of racial hierarchies.	* Armand’s racist outburst: “It is a cursed race…” * The ambiguous social position of Madame Aubigny, a free woman of color.
	The story’s open ending invites readers to interpret Désirée’s fate and the story’s message. Readers may feel sympathy for Désirée, anger towards Armand, or contemplate the broader societal issues.	* The lack of details about Désirée’s ultimate fate. * The subjective emotional impact on the reader: pity for Désirée, outrage at Armand’s actions.
	The story reflects the social and racial realities of the American South during the time period. The characters’ actions and anxieties are shaped by the societal norms and prejudices of the era.	* References to the plantation setting and societal expectations. * The concept of “white purity” and its importance in the social order.
	The story incorporates elements of the Southern Gothic genre, with its themes of racial tension, societal decay, and the grotesque. The revelation of Désirée’s ancestry disrupts the seemingly idyllic world and exposes a dark undercurrent.	* The crumbling facade of a happy marriage upon the discovery of Désirée’s heritage. * The potential symbolic significance of the bayou, a dark and mysterious natural element.

Questions and Thesis Statements about “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

How does Kate Chopin use irony to convey the theme of race and identity in “Désirée’s Baby”?
Thesis statement : Through the use of verbal irony in the dialogue between Armand and Désirée and situational irony in the revelation of the baby’s true parentage, Chopin highlights the absurdity of race-based societal norms and the fragility of constructed identity.
In what ways does Chopin use symbolism to comment on the themes of gender roles and social class in “Désirée’s Baby”?
Thesis statement: Chopin employs symbols such as the stone pillar, the cotton fields, and the baby’s clothing to represent the rigid gender roles and social hierarchies of the antebellum South, ultimately questioning their validity and impact on individual lives.
How does the use of foreshadowing contribute to the tragic ending of “Désirée’s Baby”? Thesis statement: Through the use of foreshadowing, such as the ominous mist and Désirée’s cryptic statements about her past, Chopin builds a sense of impending doom that ultimately leads to the tragic and devastating conclusion of the story.
How does Chopin use the setting of Louisiana and its history of slavery to explore the theme of racial identity in “Désirée’s Baby”?
Thesis statement: The use of Louisiana as a setting, with its complex history of slavery and racial tension, allows Chopin to explore the theme of racial identity and the impact of societal norms and expectations on individuals, particularly those of mixed race.
In what ways does Chopin use the technique of stream of consciousness to convey the psychological turmoil experienced by Désirée in “Désirée’s Baby”?
Thesis statement: By utilizing the stream of consciousness technique, Chopin allows the reader to delve into Désirée’s inner thoughts and emotions, providing a deeper understanding of her internal struggle as she grapples with the rejection of her husband and the revelation of her unknown past.

Short Question-Answer about “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

How does Kate Chopin explore the theme of race in “Desiree’s Baby”?
Kate Chopin explores the theme of race in “Desiree’s Baby” by showing the harsh realities of racial prejudice and discrimination in the 19th century American South. The story is set in a society where race is everything and the color of one’s skin determines their status and worth. Chopin highlights this by showing how Desiree’s unknown origins lead to her being ostracized and ultimately cast aside by her husband, who discovers that their child is of mixed race. This is also exemplified through the character of Armand, who embodies the societal expectations and prejudices of his time and cannot accept the idea of a mixed-race child in his family. Through the story, Chopin underscores the destructive consequences of racial prejudice and discrimination, and the need for empathy, acceptance, and equality.
How does Kate Chopin use symbolism in “Desiree’s Baby”?
Kate Chopin uses symbolism in “Desiree’s Baby” to convey deeper meanings and emotions in the story. One of the most prominent symbols is the stone pillar, which represents the solidity and permanence of the racial prejudice and discrimination in the society. It is also symbolic of Armand’s pride and power, which crumbles when he discovers his child’s mixed-race heritage. The color white is also symbolic, representing purity and innocence, but also the illusion of purity that is often used to justify racial discrimination. The image of the bayou is also symbolic of the unknown and mysterious, reflecting the uncertain origins of Desiree and her child. Chopin’s use of symbolism enriches the story and adds layers of meaning that go beyond the surface narrative.
How does Kate Chopin use irony in “Desiree’s Baby”?
Kate Chopin uses irony in “Desiree’s Baby” to highlight the hypocrisy and injustice of the society in which the story is set. For example, Armand, who is considered a model of masculinity and white supremacy, is himself of mixed race, which he discovers only after he has cast aside his wife and child for the same reason. This irony underscores the arbitrary and illogical nature of racial discrimination, and exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim to uphold racial purity and superiority. Another example of irony is the fact that Desiree, who is assumed to be of mixed race, is in fact white, while Armand, who is assumed to be white, is of mixed race. This irony subverts the expectations and assumptions of the society, and highlights the absurdity and injustice of the racial hierarchy.
How does Kate Chopin use foreshadowing in “Desiree’s Baby”?
Kate Chopin uses foreshadowing in “Desiree’s Baby” to hint at the tragic and shocking twist that comes at the end of the story. For example, the unknown origins of Desiree and her child, as well as the reference to her adoptive parents’ “cruelty,” foreshadow the revelation that the child is of mixed race and that Armand will react harshly to this discovery. The image of the baby clutching the letter “D” foreshadows the revelation of Desiree’s unknown origins and the fact that she will ultimately leave the plantation. The use of foreshadowing creates a sense of tension and unease throughout the story, and prepares the reader for the devastating revelation that will shatter the lives of the characters.

Literary Works Similar to “Désirée’s Baby” by Kate Chopin

The Awakening (1892) by Kate Chopin: Chopin’s novel delves further into themes explored in “Désirée’s Baby.” Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, mirrors Désirée’s struggle for identity and personal fulfillment within a restrictive societal framework. Both works offer insightful critiques of gender roles and societal expectations for women in the late 19th century.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou: This autobiographical novel by Maya Angelou shares thematic parallels with “Désirée’s Baby.” Both protagonists grapple with issues of racial identity and societal marginalization. Angelou’s work, however, provides a firsthand perspective on growing up Black in the racist South, offering a deeper historical context to the racial prejudice explored in Chopin’s story.
Passing (1926) by Nella Larsen: Larsen’s novel explores racial identity and the concept of “passing” – the ability of a light-skinned Black person to integrate into white society. Similar to Désirée’s situation, Clare Kendry, the protagonist, navigates a world where racial categorization is fluid and prejudice is deeply ingrained. Both works highlight the complexities of racial identity and societal pressures.
Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler: While a science fiction novel, Octavia Butler’s “Kindred” thematically resonates with “Désirée’s Baby.” Through the lens of time travel, Butler explores race and slavery. Dana Franklin, the protagonist, encounters the brutality of the antebellum South firsthand, highlighting the ongoing effects of historical injustices. Both novels utilize contrasting genres to explore the lasting impact of racial prejudice.
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys: This prequel to “Jane Eyre” offers a distinct yet thematically linked narrative. Jean Rhys tells the story of Bertha Antoinette Mason, Mr. Rochester’s first wife, a woman of mixed race ostracized and ultimately confined by a racist society. Both “Désirée’s Baby” and “Wide Sargasso Sea” explore the plight of women of color within oppressive patriarchal structures.

Desiree's Baby

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Summary and Study Guide

Summary: “désirée’s baby”.

“Désirée’s Baby” is a short story by Kate Chopin, first published under the title “The Father of Désirée's Baby,” in Vogue on January 14, 1893. It later appeared in Chopin’s 1894 short story collection Bayou Folk. The story takes place in Louisiana in the antebellum , or pre-Civil War, period. Its characters are Creole—descendants of colonists who lived in Louisiana during its periods of French and Spanish rule, who typically spoke French and practiced Catholicism . Chopin, herself, was Creole and is known for her work that centered women in late 19th-century Southern American society.

Told in third-person point-of-view, “Désirée’s Baby” opens with Madame Valmondé driving to visit her daughter, Désirée , and her new grandchild, whom she hasn’t seen in four weeks. Désirée was discovered as a toddler by the gates of the Valmondé estate, perhaps left behind by a band of travelers. Madame Valmondé believes that God sent her Désirée, since she could not have children of her own.

It was at those same gates that Désirée, as an 18-year-old, attracted the attention of Armand Aubigny . He fell in love with her instantly, as is the habit of the men in his family. Armand lived in France with his father and mother until he was eight years old; when his mother died, he and his father returned to the United States.

Upon arriving at Armand Aubigny’s estate, L’Abri, Madame Valmondé ’s mood changes from light to heavy. She feels a chill entering the property and recalls how Armand Aubigny’s father was “easy-going and indulgent” (Paragraph 7), especially when it came to treatment of the people he enslaved. Armand, unlike his father, is strict, and this contributes to Madame Valmondé’s negative impression of the place.

When Madame Valmondé finally greets her daughter Désirée, who is recovering from childbirth, she’s shocked at the appearance of the infant. Désirée misinterprets this shock to be in reference to the baby’s growth. Madame Valmondé agrees the baby is different from when she last saw, but she doesn’t articulate exactly what she’s observed and instead asks about what Armand thinks. Désirée replies that Armand is proud and that one result of his happiness is that he’s stopped punishing the enslaved people. Désirée is happy, largely because her husband is happy.

Later, when the baby is three months old, Désirée senses an inexplicable threat in the air. She suspects that people around her know something she doesn’t. Armand turns angry and hateful and returns to abusing the people he enslaves. It’s only when Désirée sees her son side-by-side with the son of an enslaved woman that she begins to see her son in a new way. Unable to put words to this, she asks her husband, who tells her what he already has figured out that her son is not white and she, therefore, is not white either.

Désirée begs Armand to reconsider her fair skin and grey eyes, but he rejects her. Désirée writes to her mother, begging her to confirm her whiteness and saying she’ll die if she’s not: “I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live” (Paragraph 28). Madame Valmondé neither confirms nor denies this but rather tells Désirée to bring her baby and come back home. Désirée asks Armand if she should go. When Armand tells her she should leave, Désirée takes the baby from the arms of Zandrine, an enslaved nursemaid, and exits the house. Instead of going home, Désirée wanders into a field, where the terrain begins to wear away at her clothes and body.

The story jumps forward a few weeks to when Armand, with the aid of the workers he enslaves, methodically burns every household relic belonging to Désirée and the baby. When he goes to burn her love letters, he finds an old letter from his mother to his father. In the letter, Armand’s mother reveals that she (and, by extension, Armand) “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (Paragraph 47) and that God has organized the family’s life in such a way that Armand would never find out.

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Désirée’s Baby , short story by Kate Chopin , first published in Vogue magazine in 1893 and then reprinted in her collection Bayou Folk in 1894. A widely acclaimed, frequently anthologized story, “Désirée’s Baby” is set in antebellum Louisiana and deals with slavery , the Southern social system, Creole culture , and the ambiguity of racial identity.

Désirée and her husband, Armand, live on a plantation at a time before the American Civil War . They are happily married—so much so that Armand has stopped mistreating the enslaved people on his plantation. But when Désirée gives birth to a child who is obviously of mixed racial ancestry, Armand grows enraged: as Chopin writes, “the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves,” and he forces Désirée and the child into exile and to a tragic end. Only later does Armand discover that it is his ancestry, and not Désirée’s, that is mixed.

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Introduction & Overview of Desiree's Baby

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Desiree's Baby Summary & Study Guide Description

Kate Chopin, who reached her creative peak in the late nineteenth century, wrote about issues that wouldn' t take social focus until many years after her death. In her frank portrayals of female sexuality and female independence, Chopin raised such matters normally left to male writers—if any writers at all. In 1899, she published her highly controversial novel, The Awakening, which details one woman's adulterous affairs and, perhaps more shockingly, her intent to seize control of her own life. The Awakening is reputed to have been banned from Chopin's local libraries, to have led to her expulsion from literary society, and to have contributed to the virtual end of her writing career. However, even after its critical reception, Chopin continued to investigate similar themes in several short stories.

"Désirée's Baby," written in 1893, is the short story for which Chopin is most well known. When the story collection in which it was reprinted, Bayou Folk, was first published, reviewers particularly appreciated Chopin's remarkable evocation of Cajun Louisiana. Today, however, readers and critics find "Désirée's Baby" to be much more than an examination of a distinct cultural place. Though brief, the story raises important issues that still plagued Chopin's South, particularly the pervasive and destructive yet ambiguous nature of racism. The story also questions the potential fulfillment of woman's identity—a subject that fascinated the unconventional Chopin. In her portrayal of Désirée, a woman whose self-worth and self-exploration is intrinsically linked to that of her husband, Chopin opened the door to her lifelong query into a woman's struggle for a place where she could fully belong.

The Tragedy of Identity in Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin

Categories: Desiree's Baby Kate Chopin

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Words: 950 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 950 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Introduction, literary analysis.

Chopin K. Desiree’s baby. 1893. Pp. 538-542. Vogue magazine.

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Desiree's Baby

Désirée's baby.

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By Kate Chopin

A S THE DAY was pleasant, Madame Valmondé drove over to L'Abri to see Désirée and the baby.

It made her laugh to think of Désirée with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Désirée was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmondé had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone pillar.

The little one awoke in his arms and began to cry for “Dada.” That was as much as she could do or say. Some people thought she might have strayed there of her own accord, for she was of the toddling age. The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation. In time Madame Valmondé abandoned every speculation but the one that Désirée had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the flesh. For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere,—the idol of Valmondé.

It was no wonder, when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow she had lain asleep, eighteen years before, that Armand Aubigny riding by and 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. The wonder was that he had not loved her before; for he had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his mother died there. 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.

Monsieur Valmondé grew practical and wanted things well considered: that is, the girl's obscure origin. Armand looked into her eyes and did not care. 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 ordered the corbeille from Paris, and contained himself with what patience he could until it arrived; then they were married.

Madame Valmondé had not seen Désirée and the baby for four weeks. When she reached L'Abri she shuddered at the first sight of it, as she always did. It was a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a mistress, old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France, and she having loved her own land too well ever to leave it. The roof came down steep and black like a cowl, reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow stuccoed house. Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall. Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime.

The young mother was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch. The baby was beside her, upon her arm, where he had fallen asleep, at her breast. The yellow nurse woman sat beside a window fanning herself.

Madame Valmondé bent her portly figure over Désirée and kissed her, holding her an instant tenderly in her arms. Then she turned to the child.

“This is not the baby!” she exclaimed, in startled tones. French was the language spoken at Valmondé in those days.

“I knew you would be astonished,” laughed Désirée, “at the way he has grown. The little cochon de lait! Look at his legs, mamma, and his hands and fingernails,—real finger-nails. Zandrine had to cut them this morning. Isn't it true, Zandrine?”

The woman bowed her turbaned head majestically, “Mais si, Madame.”

“And the way he cries,” went on Désirée, “is deafening. Armand heard him the other day as far away as La Blanche's cabin.”

Madame Valmondé had never removed her eyes from the child. She lifted it and walked with it over to the window that was lightest. She scanned the baby narrowly, then looked as searchingly at Zandrine, whose face was turned to gaze across the fields.

“Yes, the child has grown, has changed,” said Madame Valmondé, slowly, as she replaced it beside its mother. “What does Armand say?”

Désirée's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself.

“Oh, 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. I know he says that to please me. And Mamma,” she added, drawing Madame Valmondé's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, “he hasn't punished one of them—not one of them—since baby is born. Even Négrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work—he only laughed, and said Négrillon was a great scamp. Oh, Mamma, I'm so happy; it frightens me.”

What Désirée said was true. Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny's imperious and exacting nature greatly. This was what made the gentle Désirée so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned, she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her.

When the baby was about three months old, Désirée awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace. It was at first too subtle to grasp. It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from far-off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming. Then a strange, an awful change in her husband's manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse. And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves. Désirée was miserable enough to die.

She sat in her room, one hot afternoon, in her peignoir, listlessly drawing through her fingers the strands of her long, silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders. The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche's little quadroon boys—half naked too—stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers. Désirée's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she was striving to penetrate the threatening mist that she felt closing about her. She looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and over. “Ah!” It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of having uttered. The blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face.

She tried to speak to the little quadroon boy; but no sound would come, at first. When he heard his name uttered, he looked up, and his mistress was pointing to the door. He laid aside the great, soft fan, and obediently stole away, over the polished floor, on his bare tiptoes.

She stayed motionless, with gaze riveted upon her child, and her face the picture of fright.

Presently her husband entered the room, and without noticing her, went to a table and began to search among some papers which covered it.

“Armand,” she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice. “Armand,” she said again. Then she rose and tottered towards him. “Armand,” she panted once more, clutching his arm, “look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me.”

He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him. “Tell me what it means!” she cried despairingly.

“It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white.”

A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with unwonted courage to deny it. “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,” seizing his wrist. “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” she laughed hysterically.

“As white as La Blanche's,” he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with their child.

When she could hold a pen in her hand, she sent a despairing letter to Madame Valmondé.

“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.”

The answer that came was brief:

“My own Désirée: Come home to Valmondé; back to your mother who loves you. Come with your child.”

When the letter reached Désirée, she went with it to her husband's study, and laid it open upon the desk before which he sat. She was like a stone image: silent, white, motionless after she placed it there.

In silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words.

He said nothing. “Shall I go, Armand?” she asked in tones sharp with agonized suspense.

“Do you want me to go?”

“Yes, I want you to go.”

He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow, that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's soul. Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.

She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door, hoping he would call her back.

“Good-bye, Armand,” she moaned.

He did not answer her. That was his last blow at fate.

Désirée went in search of her child. Zandrine was pacing the somber gallery with it. She took the little one from the nurse's arms with no word of explanation, and descending the steps, walked away, under the live-oak branches.

It was an October afternoon; the sun was just sinking. Out in the still fields the negroes were picking cotton.

Désirée had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore. Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden gleam from its brown meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation of Valmondé. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds.

She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.

Some weeks later there was a curious scene enacted at L'Abri. In the center of the smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire. Armand Aubigny sat in the wide hallway that commanded a view of the spectacle; and it was he who dealt out to a half dozen negroes the material which kept this fire ablaze.

A graceful cradle of willow, with all its dainty furbishings, was laid upon the pyre, which had already been fed with the richness of a priceless layette. Then there were silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries; bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.

The last thing to go was a tiny bundle of letters; innocent little scribblings that Désirée had sent to him during the days of their espousal. There was the remnant of one back in the drawer from which he took them. But it was not Désirée's; it was part of an old letter from his mother to his father. He read it. She was thanking God for the blessing of her husband's love:—

“But above all,” she wrote, “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.”

Having found no comfort from Armand, Désirée pleads with her mother to protect her from the accusation that she is not white. Interestingly, she uses the words “they” and “them” when relaying these accusations, suggesting that while Armand has directly been cruel to her, the rest of society will be equally as cruel. The claim that she “must die” emphasizes how desperate Désirée is and how powerless she feels. Her life has completely revolved around Armand and his support for her; now it’s being stripped away.

As Désirée struggles to understand the revelation about her baby, she tries to convince herself that she is not to blame. At this time, having a black relative corrupted one’s social standing, hence her hysterical insistence that she is white. Her laughter likely indicates a weakening of her mental fortitude, especially considering how cold and cruel her husband is being towards her.

Désirée describes the change in Armand, and even though she asserts that he has been “softened,” her description actually emphasizes his darker nature. He is cruel and uses his power to harm those he has control over. As readers, we are led to wonder if the change that Désirée describes will be permanent, or if his true character is unchangeable.

Although Armand’s “imperious and exacting nature” has been “softened” by love and the birth of his child, Désirée is still subject to his mood swings. During this time, women were expected to shape their lives around the needs and desires of their husbands. Désirée’s own moods and emotions are thus tied to Armand’s; if he is unhappy, so is she, with Désirée’s extreme emotional dependence on her husband reflects the sexist societal beliefs of the time.

Armand is powerful in a number of ways as a white, wealthy male in a patriarchal and racist society. When he is upset, the ways in which his power intersects is emphasized. Armand is violent towards his slaves, he determines both his wife’s happiness and her livelihood, and he even uses his power over his female slaves in atrocious ways. Armand’s mistreatment of those with less agency is intersectional in nature, complicating the theme of intersectionality and racism.

In the letter that Armand reads from his mother, she writes that he “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.” This reveals that it is actually Armand who has black ancestry, not Désirée. This dramatic plot twist makes the ending of the story, and the story itself, all the more ironic and devastating. More specifically, Armand’s fate is extremely ironic. He has treated his wife and his slaves with violence and cruelty based on the color of their skin, and now he must face the fact that he is actually part-black himself.

After Désirée and the baby have disappeared, Armand decides to remove all traces of their existence by burning their possessions. If we recall the story’s last image of fire, which is associated with Armand’s burning passion for Désirée, then this passage becomes even more symbolic. Notice again the way that Chopin emphasizes Armand’s power as a wealthy white landowner. His slaves are actually doing the work here, and Désirée’s reputation is the only one that suffers, as a woman now believed to be part-black. She bears the societal “shame” of the situation, and he would have been largely unaffected.

Désirée’s decision to end her own life emphasizes just how deeply racist this society is. Désirée understands the social, political, and economic consequences that being mixed-race entails for both herself and her son. Chopin highlights the internalized racism that manifests from a society like this: Désirée now sees herself as inferior, as someone who is part African American. Her choice also signals the few options that women had during this time. Désirée has been dependant on Armand financially, and he has rejected her. While Désirée could have listened to her mother and returned to Valmondé, her confidence and self-esteem were so shattered by her husband and her position in society that she likely felt that she had no other recourse.

While not overtly stated, we can infer from the ominous language that Désirée chooses to kill herself and her child. Notice that the bayou is described as “deep” and “sluggish,” and that Chopin ends the same sentence by stating that “she did not come back again.” This might indicate a kind of cause and effect: the bayou is deep, therefore, she does not return.

Although this is not the stone pillar from before, Chopin associates Désirée with the imagery of stone to symbolize a transition in Désirée’s life. An earlier reference to her as the “idol of Valmondé” can be recalled here, reinforcing the societal emphasis on appearance under which Désirée now suffers. Earlier in her life it served as a benefit to be judged by her appearance; now her “stone image” is devoid of power.

Notice that the theme of fate and Providence is again emphasized here, but this time it is complicated by Armand’s unkind nature. In contrast with Madame Valmondé’s positive outlook on God and destiny, Armand assumes that God is punishing him “unjustly.” Armand sees his child’s heritage as a “cruel” and intentional curse from God. His love for his child is thus entirely conditional, just as his love for his “beloved” wife has been revealed to be. This assures readers that Armand’s earlier “change” in nature was, in fact, temporary.

Madame Valmondé’s reply is not particularly comforting for Désirée; rather, she simply advises her to come home. It is unclear why Madame Valmondé gave these instructions, whether out of fear for her daughter’s future, or something else. However, notice that Madame Valmondé tells her to come back to her “mother who loves [her].” Madame Valmondé’s love for her adopted daughter proves unconditional, unlike Armand’s.

When the narrator says that Désirée considers “all that this accusation meant for her,” it is suggested that Armand assumes that Désirée is either part African American or has had an affair with an African American man. Notice the irony in this sexist accusation. Armand can have relations with an unwilling slave, but even the idea of Désirée having an affair disgusts him. Further, as a man, Armand is never asked to defend his heritage, while Désirée immediately must do so.

During the times of slavery and segregation in America, a person with any amount of African American heritage was seen as non-white, regardless of appearance. This belief stemmed from racist ideologies of “purity” in bloodline and a negative cultural perception of interracial relationships. When Armand immediately accuses Désirée of not being white, he is making the sexist and racist assumption that his wife is the one to “blame” for the child’s mixed heritage. Armand sees himself as a wealthy and “pure” white man, so by his logic he must be free from suspicion.

Armand’s cruel reply delivers another blow to Désirée, who tried to appeal to him with her physical attributes. The nature of his cruel reply immediately after Désirée compares her skin color to Armand’s is also something to consider as it may have implications in the story. Since La Blanche is one of Armand’s slaves, this retort implies that he sees no difference between a woman who is partially black or fully black. He sees his wife and slaves as nothing more than property, and in the case of his wife, he sees her as property that has lost value.

As Désirée stares at her baby and La Blanche’s boy, she finally realizes what has been bothering her. Readers will recall Désirée’s mother’s initial cry of “This is not the baby!” and deduce that Désirée’s baby has something in common with La Blanche’s boy. The idea that her son may have black heritage causes her to cry out. Though Désirée faces many difficulties in this society as a woman, her experience has not engendered tolerance or open-mindedness when it comes to matters of race.

In Christian orthodoxy, Satan is the name of the angel Lucifer who rebelled against the rule of God. After failing in his revolution, Satan became the ruler of hell and chief tormentor of the sinners who go to hell after they die. This phrase then gives readers an idea of how Armand all of a sudden began terribly treating his slaves.

Désirée’s claim that she is so happy that it frightens her ought to give readers pause. We have learned of Armand’s passion and cruel treatment of his slaves, and so this sudden change in behavior is at odds with how he has been characterized previously. That the change scares Désirée gives us an indication that it may not be permanent. However, her love for Armand and the baby blind her to the truth about her husband’s character, and she remains hopelessly idealistic, believing that he could never turn his cruelty on her.

This now-offensive term refers to a person who has one black grandparent, making them one-quarter black. This quantification of skin color was yet another way that whites classified and dehumanized African Americans, even after the legal end of slavery.

Color, light, and shades of darkness have occurred throughout the story thus far to describe important things like the stone pillar and the window Désirée’s mother holds the baby near. The inclusion of “dark” in the description of Armand’s face also has significance in the story, be it his tendency to cruelly treat his slaves or something else.

The use of “yellow” in this passage does not refer to today’s offensive stereotype of Asian peoples. Rather, at the time, it was used to indicate a light-skinned black person, much in the way that Chopin uses other terms—like the now-offensive “quadroon”—to indicate the darkness of one’s skin.

All details in short stories are important, and Chopin’s inclusion of the detail has significance in the story. Since “Désirée’s Baby” is set prior to the American Civil War, slavery is still enforced and attitudes towards interracial relationships were generally condemned. However, France at this time had already done away with slavery and had different views concerning race and social class.

The word “lightest” is being used in a couple different ways here. The narrator is referring to the window that literally lets in the most light, so that Madame Valmondé can examine the child closely. However the term might also be used in contrast to the child’s skin tone.

Although La Blanche never appears in the story, her name is mentioned quite often. Here, the narrator tells the reader that Armand has been at La Blanche’s cabin, implying that Armand has or has had a sexual relationship with her. Because La Blanche is Armand’s slave, she is deemed his “property,” and it was common at this time for slave-owners to rape their slaves. This introduces the theme of intersectionality in the short story, a concept that examines oppression from various social, political, economic, and racial perspectives.

At this point in the story, it is still unclear as to why Madame Valmondé reacts this way at the sight of the baby. We can infer from context however, that she is undoubtedly astonished at the baby’s appearance, and seems to think that the baby looks somehow different from Désirée. Désirée, however, only understands her mother’s cry as a sign of the child’s growth since his birth.

A “muslin” is a cotton fabric made of plain weave. The soft fabric is used for many different purposes, namely sheets and often clothing for new mothers.

Chopin uses small details here to subtly remind the reader that Désirée is wealthy. She can afford not to work, and all of the maternal care is performed by a waiting nurse. We can assume that the waiting nurse is likely a slave since during this time, slaves worked both in the plantation and in the home. It would have been common for someone of Désirée’s wealth to have a slave to do much of her child-rearing for her.

Notice the contrast between Armand and his father’s temperaments. Armand’s father was “easy-going” and “indulgent”; under his “rule,” the slaves on the L’Abri plantation were “gay” (happy). However, Armand is a “strict” ruler, and the under his authority, the slaves are no longer “happy.” However, both men were slave owners, and even though Armand’s father may have been less violent than Armand, he is still advancing a system that denies basic rights to African Americans.

A “pall” is a cloth that is spread over a coffin or hearse. Chopin chooses imagery that reveals the dark nature of the L’Abri plantation. The “sad,” “wide,” “black,” appearance of the house, and the description of the “solemn oaks” creates an ominous tone. Madame Valmondé’s shivering suggests that the L’Abri plantation is dark, cold, and eerie place. Further, the appearance of the plantation mirrors Armand’s own characteristics just as Désirée’s outward appearance mirrors her internal character.

Armand’s hasty dismissal of Monsieur Valmondé’s cautions seems to be driven primarily by his overwhelming passion for Désirée, rather than his true lack of concern about her origins.

Monsieur Valmondé cautioned Armand because of his concern that Désirée’s murky past will present a potential problem. During this time, an individual’s birth, bloodline, and name were of extreme importance and could determine who they could marry. Although Désirée has been brought up in a wealthy family, her heritage is unknown. This would have been a serious issue for many suitors. Chopin foreshadows events to come with this cautionary line.

" Mais si " [French] = literally "But if" but in the context a looser translation could be "But of course, Madame."

Chopin compares Armand’s passion to avalanches, fires, or anything else that moves quickly and without regard for objects in its way. This characterizes Armand as potentially capricious, rash, and reckless. If such passion can make him feel this way and suddenly change his behavior, then other emotions can just as quickly change his behavior in different ways.

This line tells the reader a bit about Armand’s family and his own character. He is characterized as impulsive and passionate. Note too, that Armand is associated with a loud and violent weapon, strongly contrasting with Désirée’s sweet and gentle nature. The description here also foreshadows darker aspects of Armand’s character.

Notice that Désirée is standing by the same stone pillar when she meets Armand. The stone pillar thus also symbolizes the various transitions that Désirée experiences throughout her life. Under this stone pillar, Désirée was given her first home, and now that she has won the affection of Armand, Désirée will move to a new home once again. However, consider how Désirée is a passive bystander, claimed by others during both of these transitions. Her quiet and passive role in both situations emphasizes the position of women in society at this time.

Notice that it is Désirée’s beauty that Armand has fallen instantly in love with, not her mind. Armand considers Désirée’s appearance as her single, defining trait. During this time, a woman’s beauty was much more valued than her wit or intelligence. So, Armand’s refusal to see Désirée as anything but a lovely face is representative of the attitude towards women in general.

When Madame Valmondé finds Désirée, she sees Désirée as a gift and blessing from God. Rather than taking her to an orphanage, she raises her as her own. Notice that Madame Valmondé’s interpretation of the situation ultimately decides Désirée’s fate. Had Madame Valmondé not attributed the child’s circumstances to God’s will, she might not have taken her in. This complicates the theme of fate and destiny, as Chopin suggests that our perceptions affect our decisions and their subsequent outcomes.

In the Christian doctrine, “providence” means divine guidance or care. In this context, it is associated with the concept of destiny, suggesting that it was God’s plan that the Valmondés find Désirée and adopt her. This establishes the theme of fate and providence that will appear throughout the rest of the story as characters blame or thank God for their circumstances.

The narrator relays the rumor that baby Désirée was left on a wagon that was then placed on a ferry to cross some body of water. From this context, we can infer that “Coton Mais” is the name of the person who owns or operates the ferry.

In rural Louisiana, a large stone pillar would seem fairly conspicuous. So, readers should see the pillar as a distinct symbol in this short story. Consider that baby Désirée’s position in the dark shadows of the pillar symbolizes the mysterious circumstances of her birth. Her past is unknown to both the reader and the Valmondés, creating a tone of secrecy and mystery. As the pillar stands at the gates of the Valmondé estate, it also symbolizes the family’s wealth and Désirée’s privileged upbringing.

Valmondé is the name of the plantation that Désirée grew up on with her parents, the Valmondés. Since plantations were owned by wealthy white people, this detail subtly informs the reader that the Valmondés are prosperous.

L’Abri is French for “the shelter.” In this short story, L’Abri is the name of the plantation that Désirée now lives on with her husband, Armand Aubigny.

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COMMENTS

Désirée's Baby Summary & Analysis
Analysis. On a beautiful day in mid-nineteenth century Louisiana, Madame Valmondé drives to the neighboring plantation to visit her adopted daughter Désirée and her daughter's new baby. She reflects that it seems but yesterday that her grown daughter was a baby herself. Her husband, Monsieur Valmondé, found the baby asleep in the shadow ...
"Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin
Introduction. Desiree's Baby, authored by Kate Chopin, is a bittersweet short story with an ironic ending. The plot centers on Armand, a wealthy landowner in Louisiana falls for and marries Desiree, a woman of unknown heritage. Later, the couple bears a son with a black skin color, which, according to Armand, comes from Desiree.
A Summary and Analysis of Kate Chopin's 'Désirée's Baby'
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) 'Désirée's Baby', originally known by the longer title 'The Father of Désirée's Baby', is an 1893 short story by the American writer Kate Chopin (1850-94). It is among Chopin's most widely studied stories, partly because it deals with the subject of race as well as gender. The story tells…
Analysis of Kate Chopin's Désirée's Baby
Analysis of Kate Chopin's Désirée's Baby. By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 23, 2021. Kate Chopin 's brief but mesmerizing story opens in medias res, with Madame Valmonde preparing to visit her adopted daughter, Desiree, recently married to the wealthy Louisiana plantation owner Armand d'Aubigny and even more recently delivered of a baby girl.
Desiree's Baby, Kate Chopin, characters, setting
Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. "Kate Chopin and the Fiction of Limits: 'Desiree's Baby.' " Southern Literary Journal 10.2 (1978): ... Spring, 1994. 8-171. The special section of the journal contains these essays: Toth, Emily. "Introduction: A New Generation Reads Kate Chopin": 8-17. Koloski, Bernard. "The Anthologized Chopin: Kate ...
Désirée's Baby Study Guide
Vogue Magazine. Désirée's Baby was initially published in Vogue Magazine. While contemporary readers might identify this publication primarily with popular fashion, Vogue was founded in 1892 (just before Chopin's inclusion) as a publication to celebrate "the ceremonial side of life.". It catered primarily to New York aristocracy.
Desiree's Baby Summary & Complete Study Guide
Desiree`s Baby is written by American author, Kate Chopin. It was written on 24th November 1892. It was published on 14th January 1893, in Vogue. It is the first of nineteen stories of Chopin. It appeared in the section "Character Studies" under the title of 'The Father of Desiree's Baby.'.
Desiree's Baby Study Guide
Desiree's Baby essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin. Desiree's Baby study guide contains a biography of Kate Chopin, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Desiree's Baby Summary
Desiree's Baby Summary. The story opens with Madame Valmonde visiting Desiree and her baby. On her way to L'Abri, she reminisces about Desiree's childhood. Desiree was a foundling discovered by Monsieur Valmonde. He found her "lying in the shadow of the big stone pillar," as he was galloping through the gateway to Valmonde.
"Désirée's Baby" by Kate Chopin: Analysis
Literary Devices in "Désirée's Baby" by Kate Chopin. Allusion: A reference to another literary work, historical event, or cultural phenomenon. Example: "She turned and regarded him with eyes that were clear and steady but not proud." (Alludes to the Bible verse Proverbs 31:30: "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.")
Desiree's Baby Summary and Study Guide
Summary: "Désirée's Baby". "Désirée's Baby" is a short story by Kate Chopin, first published under the title "The Father of Désirée's Baby," in Vogue on January 14, 1893. It later appeared in Chopin's 1894 short story collection Bayou Folk. The story takes place in Louisiana in the antebellum, or pre-Civil War, period.
"Désirée's Baby"
The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche's little quadroon boys—half naked too— stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers. Désirée's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she was ...
Désirée's Baby (short story by Kate Chopin)
Désirée's Baby, short story by Kate Chopin, first published in Vogue magazine in 1893 and then reprinted in her collection Bayou Folk in 1894. A widely acclaimed, frequently anthologized story, "Désirée's Baby" is set in antebellum Louisiana and deals with slavery, the Southern social system, Creole culture, and the ambiguity of racial identity.
Désirée's Baby
"Désirée's Baby" as it appeared in Bayou Folk, 1894 "Désirée's Baby" was first published on January 14, 1893, in Vogue. It first appeared under the title "The Father of Désirée's Baby" in a section called "Character Studies". The same issue included Chopin's story "A Visit to Avoyelles"; both marked Chopin's first contributions to the magazine which would eventually publish 18 of her ...
Desiree's Baby
However, even after its critical reception, Chopin continued to investigate similar themes in several short stories. "Désirée's Baby," written in 1893, is the short story for which Chopin is most well known. When the story collection in which it was reprinted, Bayou Folk, was first published, reviewers particularly appreciated Chopin's ...
Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin
Published in 1893, " Desiree's Baby " is a short story by author Kate Chopin. The story is a dynamic critique of racism and the patriarchy by Chopin, who often took on important sociological ...
The Tragedy Of Identity In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin: [Essay
Desiree's baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin that gives an account of the racial landscape that existed in the nineteenth century before the civil war. The story is set in Louisiana, at a home of a slave owner, and the husband to Desiree, Armand. This is an account of how racial prejudices and slavery have shaped, remodeled, and to ...
Désirée's Baby Style, Form, and Literary Elements
"Desiree's Baby" is a work of social realism set in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, just after the Civil War. Chopin is known as a local colorist, so the setting plays a large role in establishing ...
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Désirée's Baby by Kate Chopin. As the day was pleasant, Madame Valmondé drove over to L'Abri to see Désirée and the baby. made her laugh to think of Désirée with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Désirée was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmondé had found her lying asleep ...
Desiree's Baby Full Text
A S THE DAY was pleasant, Madame Valmondé drove over to L'Abri to see Désirée and the baby. It made her laugh to think of Désirée with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Désirée was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmondé had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone ...

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