A look into "Désirée's Baby"

             "Désirée's Baby", by Kate Chopin, is a story of prejudice, love and rejection with noble beginnings that turn slowly to reveal the uglier side of human relations. Armand Aubigny, a wealthy landowner of the plantation L'Abri in southern Louisiana, is confronted by a family secret that has been kept from him well into adulthood. The secret is scandalous for its day and its consequences run deep into the fabric of society. Armand discovers this secret by chance at the end of the story, when he finds the remnants of an old letter written by his mother to his father. The significance of which makes us focus on the many tragic yet ironic decisions that he made throughout this story.
             In the old south, bloodlines are very important to the reputation of a family and their social placement, so the "purity" of the family line must be kept. This "purity" does not accommodate the marriage of mixed race. Knowing this, Armand marries Désirée whom he had known since he was eight, which is when he moved to Louisiana from France with his father after his mother died. Désirée was a girl of no distinction, who had no history or reputation of a family name like that of Armand. Despite this, and the warnings from others, he fell in love with her "as if struck by a pistol shot."(930). "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?" (931).
             Tragedy came early in the marriage with the birth of their first child. Nobody seemed to notice at first, but by the time the child was three months old, neighbors and Armand himself noticed a change in the child. "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."(932). It turns out the baby is of mixed blood, beca...

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A look into "Désirée's Baby". (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:43, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/8288.html