Desiree

’s Baby Essay, Research Paper

Désirée´s Baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It is set in 19th century Louisiana. The story starts with Madame Valmondé going to visit Désirée and her baby. She thinks back on her memories of Désirée as a 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.”

This quote tells us two things. The first is that Madame Valmondé must have known Désirée as a child and is either a close family friend of even a member of the family herself. The second thing is that Désirée is young. The word “baby” could either mean childlike or physically young. Désirée seemed to be a normal child and had had a normal childhood. The third paragraph tells us more about Désirée´s background:

“She had been purposely left by a band of passing

Texans.”

She had been abandoned at a very young age outside Madame Valmondé´s home. We can also tell from paragraph five that

“She was nameless.”

No one knew what her name was or what her family background was like. It was all a rumour.

Eighteen years after this, Armand Aubigny fell in love with Désirée. From the fifth paragraph of page 51 we can tell that Armand was very proud of his family name.

“What did it matter about a name when he could give

her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana.”

This is a very old fashioned point of view. To Armand, his name was everything. There is a very strong social contrast between the nameless Désirée and Armand.

Signs of racism become apparent in the book on page 52:

“Young Aubigny´s rule was a strict one, too, and under

it his Negroes had forgotten how to be gay.”

Armand must have treated them very harshly and made them unhappy. His home is described as being sad looking and quite dreary.

The second paragraph of page 52 gives the reader a description of the type of home Armand owns. There are muslins, a couch decorated with laces, there are also slaves. Madame Valmondé´s first reaction to the baby was one of shock and astonishment:

“This is not the baby!”

Theoretically this isn’t very significant because babies tend to grow very quickly and their outward appearance can change very fast. The eighth paragraph on this page gives us a hint at why Madame Valmondé was so startled when she first saw the baby.

“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.”

This is a very important point. Madame Valmondé has noticed something different about the baby. The fact that she didn´t take her eyes off the baby verifies this. She then takes the baby over to the window “that was lightest”. This could mean either that the room was a bit gloomy, like the rest of Armand´s home, or there was something about the boy that just didn´t look “right”. When Madame Valmondé looks over at the black slave, this gives us the biggest clue to what is different about the baby. Madame Valmondé must have seen a resemblance in the baby and Zandrine. The author deliberately doesn´t tell us that the baby is black. An air of mystery is created. Désirée clearly doesn´t notice any thing and thinks that her mother´s reaction is due to the child´s growth. She hasn´t noticed anything odd about the child. When you spend a lot of time with someone and you see them frequently, you don´t notice little differences in their appearance. But Madame Valmondé hadn´t seen Désirée and her baby for four weeks.

The next little section shows us what Armand´s reaction to the birth of his child were.

“he hasn´t punished one of them – not one of them –

since baby is born”

The birth of a child clearly has softened Armand and made him happier. Désirée also became happier because she loved her husband desperately and was happy when he was happy. But on page 53 line five a physical description of Armand is given.

“But Armand´s dark, handsome face had not been

disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love

with her.”

The word “dark” in this quote could mean either that he was always dismal or that his skin was dark. This becomes more apparent as we read on in the book. The second paragraph on this page suggests that something is wrong. The behaviour of blacks on the estate changes, there are unexpected visits from neighbours, Armand´s manner changes, he doesn´t look at his wife and he is frequently away from home. He starts to avoid his wife and child. In the third paragraph the truth is revealed. Désirée is sitting in her room one afternoon with her child. There is a quadroon child fanning the baby.

“She looked from her child to the boy w

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