Chopin, Kate - Ellen Peel (essay date June 1990)

Ellen Peel (essay date June 1990)

SOURCE: Peel, Ellen. “Semiotic Subversion in ‘Désirée's Baby.’” American Literature 62, no. 2 (June 1990): 223-37.

[In the following essay, Peel provides a semiotic and political interpretation of “Désirée's Baby.”]

I

At first “Désirée's Baby,” published in 1893 by Kate Chopin, seems no more than a poignant little story with a clever twist at the end.1 Yet that does not fully explain why the tale is widely anthologized, why it haunts readers with the feeling that, the more it is observed, the more facets it will show. In “Désirée's Baby” Chopin, best known as the author of The Awakening, has created a small gem, whose complexity has not yet been fully appreciated. As I explore that complexity, my broader goal is a theoretical one: I plan to show not only that a semiotic and a political approach can be combined, but also that they must be combined in...

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