Desiree's Baby Lit. Response

The story of Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin, is a short story filled with ironic twists and turns. The story starts off with her mother reminiscing on times when Desiree was a little girl, and now she’s a young woman having a child. But they run into a problem. People start to notice the baby’s skin color is starting to look like one’s of a quadroon. This imposes a major conflict in the plot of he story. It also relates to the theme of the story, which is mainly race and the mixing of racial groups.

Kate Chopin appeals to pathos in this story. The plot is emotional throughout the story. Chopin shows how passionate and caring Desiree is in the sentence “. She did not just neglect her baby when she found out the baby was perhaps a quadroon. She remained loving and cared for the baby. Though, the father, Armand, starts to not care for the baby anymore. At first, it was said that he was really excited, and now that he has found out the baby is a quadroon, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. This takes a major toll on Desiree. The sentence “Desiree was miserable enough to die” shows how bad she hurt and feels about the situation. It also shows how she reacts to certain situations and what type of person she is.

Also, you can say that the theme of this story is also feminism. I believe it’s another one of the main themes because Desiree was the first to be blamed for being black. Why couldn’t her husband have been black? In this story, Chopin made her the underdog because she is a woman. Though, we do have clues that could suggest that her husband was actually the one who was had black in them. The quote “But Armand’s dark, handsome face…”gives the audience a clue on how he looks. But later on in the story, Desiree tries to prove to him that she’s not the one who’s black. She tells Armand to look at her hair, which is described as “long, silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders”. She also describes her eyes as gray, her skin fair and being whiter than his. These are not physical features a black person would have. You can assume that her husband was actually the one who was black but didn’t get blamed for it because he’s a man. That also had something to do with the time period they were in.

Chopin’s diction throughout the story was sometimes vague though she did use a metaphors and similes to express imagery to the audience. There were times where I was unclear on something. For instance, throughout the whole story, the baby never had a name. It was always referred to as “baby”. I think she may have done this to imply that the baby was not worthy enough to get a name because he was a quadroon. Another reason may have been to show that they baby was not going to stay long. “The blood turned like ice in her veins, and clammy moisture gathered upon her face” is an example of a simile used to show the audience the emotion she was feeling.

Desiree’s Baby was a very interesting and ironic story. At the end, it turns out the husband was actually the one who was black. Chopin definitely grabbed the audience’s attention by her use of pathos. She also created imagery for her audience using similes and metaphors. This was a great story and really opened my eyes to how the world used to be (or is) and what was accepted and what was not.