2) should Desiree have returned to her family home with her baby?
             In the short story "Desiree's Baby," written by Kate Chopin, tragedy comes early in the marriage with the birth of Armand and Desiree's first child. Although no one seemed to notice at first, by the time the child was three months old, Armand noticed a change in the child. "When the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace." (331). It turns out the baby is of mixed blood and because of this, he shuns his wife and the child he was so proud of only days before. "He absented himself from home and when here, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse."(331). Armand was "the proudest father in that parish...it is a boy to bear his name."(330). Additionally, he accuses Desiree of not being white (a crime against his family's "purity") which she abruptly denies. "It is a lie it is not true, I am white Look at my hair, it is brown and my eyes are gray, Armand," (331) Desiree then writes to her adopted mother and tells her about what is happening. Her mother then tells her to return home with the child where they will both be loved, but Desiree is so shocked and disheartened she sets off towards a local bayou with the child they are both to never be seen again. Armand has made the decision to lose his family in order to save his name and it's too late to bring Desiree and the baby back. The irony is that the letter read by Armand from his mother reveals to him that it is he who is of mixed blood and not Desiree. For Armand's mother 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." (332-333)
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