Desiree's Baby

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

[edit] Plot summary

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

Because of Désirée’s unknown origins, Armand immediately assumes that she is part Black, and
after Madame Valmondé suggests that Désirée and the baby return to the Valmondé estate,
Armand tells her to leave. Désirée then takes the child and walks off into a bayou where she is
never seen again. Armand then proceeds to burn all of Désirée’s belongings and the child’s
cradle, as well as all of the letters that she had sent him during their courtship. With this bundle
of letters is also one written from his mother to his father, revealing that Armand is in fact the
one who is part black. Désirée's race is never definitively determined, although after she is
dismissed:

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

Themes and literary classification

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

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

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

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

Armand, and Désirée are the two main characters that are talked about in the story “Désirée’s
Baby.” Even though the story begins with Désirée’s mother telling the story, the story quickly
switches over to the thoughts and actions of Désirée as well as her husband Armand. Armand is a
round character in the story, for he undergoes a change by the end of the story. He is the only one
who reaches an epiphany at the end of the story when he discovers the true facts of his mother’s
origin, and that he is in fact part black. Robert D. Arner, a critic, comments, “Armand is a willful
and headstrong character” [3]. Armand is also defined by both his actions and by the images
clustered around him. Désirée, who is the other main character in the story, is Armand’s wife as
well as mother to their child. Désirée, in contrast to her husband, is a flat character. She is
consistent with her emotions and feelings toward Armand throughout the story. Even though she
is deeply hurt and shocked by Armand’s reaction and behavior towards the fact that their baby is
black, she still loves him at the end of the story just as she did in the beginning. She is the
protagonist in the story because she is the one character who doesn’t react poorly to the fact that
her baby is black. Unlike Armand, who completely blows the whole situation out of proportion,
Désirée isn’t the one who has the problem. She is presented with the problem or conflict, and is
not responsible for creating it. Désirée is also defined by her actions and by the images clustered
around her.

There are many symbols seen throughout the story “Désirée’s Baby.” The first major symbolism
seen continuously throughout the story is that of light and dark. Armand represents darkness
while Désirée represents lightness. A critic, Robert D. Arner, points out, “Armand is associated
with darkness from the outset. His estate is a place of terror and his house inspires fear…[It]
functions as a symbolic projection onto the landscape of Armand’s personality” [3]. Robert D.
Arner also concludes that the color yellow is symbolic in the way it’s used in the story. The
plantation that Armand owns is yellow, as is Zandrine, the baby’s nurse, and La Blanche and her
son who are black [3]. This goes back to the original symbolism that Armand is associated with
darkness or the black slaves who are described in the story as being yellow. Armand’s reaction
and personality are also symbolic. According to another critic, Barbara C. Ewell, “His passions

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are instant and furious: he falls in love ‘as if struck by a pistol shot,’ his passion sweeps along
‘like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over obstacles’ ” [4].

There is symbolism in the way that he also reacts to the baby being black. He is rash and he
burns all of Désirée’s belongings in a bonfire "[s]ome weeks later" after she leaves the house.
His personality is symbolic in the way that he doesn’t always know everything before he makes a
decision, so this basically shows that he goes by impulse, and the reader expects him to act
rashly when he realizes that the baby is black.

Irony plays a big part in the story. At the end of the story Kate Chopin leaves the reader with
information regarding Armand in the form of a letter that his mother wrote. She wrote, “ night
and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged [her and her husband’s] lives that [her and
her husband’s] dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the
race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” [5]. This reveals the real truth that Armand is the one
who is black and likely not Désirée. It is also ironic that while he had destroyed Désirée’s life
that he also in fact ruined his as well because he lost his wife, lost his baby, and also lost his
important self-image, for he claimed that he had one of the best names in Louisiana. The way
that the characters are described is also ironic. Critic Cynthia Griffin Wolff says, “In the end,
only Armand’s skin is genuinely colored-a ‘dark, handsome face’ ” [6]. While Armand is
portrayed that way, Désirée is surrounded by whiteness. Robert D. Arner points out examples of
Désirée being surrounded by whiteness. Recovering from a difficult labor, Désirée lies “in her
soft white muslins and laces, upon a couch.” She stands next to Armand “like a stone image:
silent, white, motionless” after she receives her mother’s letter and allows Armand to read and
respond to it. At the end the reader is left with an image of Désirée wearing a thin white garment
[3]
. Kate Chopin also has Désirée confront Armand about her skin color saying “Look at my
hand; whiter than yours, Armand” [7]. These ironies all lead the reader to the actual truth, but then
again try to mislead the reader at the same time.

There are many outlying themes in the story “Désirée’s Baby.” One of the themes that Kate
Chopin wanted readers to understand was that nothing good could come from making too rash of
assumptions or being too quick to judge someone or something. Armand assumed too quickly
that Désirée had to have the black traits when in fact in the end it is he who is part black. This
assumption ultimately kills him in the end because he ends up losing his wife and baby, and also
destroying any chance of happiness that was left in his life. He created his own doom and fate.
Another theme seen throughout the story is purely racial.

This story obviously identifies racial issues, but more than that the story allows the reader to see
that Armand is as much a slave as the actual slaves that he controls. As critic Barbara C. Ewell
says, “[Armand] is a victim of his emotional volatility” [4]. Robert D. Arner also concludes, “the
theme that no real or final distinction based on color can be made between slave and master” [8].
These themes reach deep into the reader’s mind and really makes the reader think about the
many issues of race in society today as well as the racial issues of the past. Kate Chopin wrote
the story “Désirée’s Baby” with a general idea of what she wanted to say. She brings together
these two characters that are completely different and opposite of each other. Armand and
Désirée have many differences beginning with where they come from, their family background,
and their overall personalities. Throughout the story there are also many symbolic, ironic, and

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general themes given to the reader to interpret and think about. Robert D. Arner gives his opinion
that “ ‘Désirée’s Baby’ gives evidence of a careful craftsmanship that goes well beyond formal
elegance and fuses theme, structure, and imagery into one of the most successful of [Kate
Chopin’s] work” [8]. Cynthia Griffen Wolff agrees with Robert D. Arner that “ ‘Désirée’s Baby’
may be judged a superb piece of short fiction-an economical, tight psychological drama” [9].

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.

Desiree's Baby Summary

Désirée's Background
''Désirée's Baby'' opens with a brief history of the foundling, Désirée, who was adopted by the
Valmonde family after they found her by the side of the road. The Valmondes were childless,
and they took in the toddler and raised her as their own child. When Désirée becomes a young
woman, her beauty attracts the attention of Armand Aubigny, a neighboring plantation owner
and bearer of one of the finest names in Louisiana. Although Désirée's father reminds Armand
that Désirée's heritage is unknown, Armand says that doesn't matter, that he will give her a new
name.

Birth Brings Happiness

After their marriage, Désirée gives birth to a son. One day Madame Valmonde comes to visit.
When she first sees the child she is surprised and exclaims, ‘‘This is not the baby!" Desiree
laughs, believing her mother is talking about how much the child has grown. She boasts of her
child. When Madame Valmonde asks what Armand thinks of the... » Complete Desiree's Baby
Summary