Désirée's Baby

Another lesson we can learn from this story is that we sometimes tend to think we are more tolerant or accepting than we actually are. Armand is an example of someone who appears to be very...

The character La Blanche in Kate Chopin's "Désirée's Baby" is important throughout the story. The name itself is significant, as has been said, because it literally means "the white." This entire...

In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, Armand Aubigny and Desiree Valmonde appear to be in love when they marry. Despite being told by Desiree’s adopted father that he did not know anything about...

Since you don't specify the colors you are referring to, I'm going to assume you mean skin colors. Skin colors are referred to as white, black, and yellow. White stands for the ruling class of...

One of Kate Chopin’s goals in writing the short story “Desiree's Baby” was to show the damaging effect that racism has on people. Chopin does this through severe irony. Chopin sets up the character...

Both stories are at their cores about women in unhappy, unequal marriages. While Mrs. Mallard and Desiree both love their husbands, they are not allowed to be their equals. Mr. Mallard dominates...

A character analysis of Desiree reveals that she is a gentle and loving young woman who feels no shame nor inferiority because she was a foundling abandoned by the road when a toddler, then found,...

In the beginning, Armand truly loved the idea of being with Desiree. His station in life was such that he could have all the things he desired, including Desiree. He did not care that she was...

The key word in regards to a third-person narrator, especially in Desiree's Baby, is the word "limited" or "omniscient." In this case, our third-person narrator is definitely "limited" and we can...

The letter at the end of this excellent story is of course a wonderful yet devastating example of situational irony, as we realise that the dark-skinned gene came not from Desiree, as both we and...

La Blanche is mentioned only in passing in this short story and only three times, but she is an important character, as she lends considerable context to the conflict of the story. La Blanche's...

I think the answer to this question depends on where you are talking about in the world. Unfortunately, issues of skin colour and race are still just as prevalent in some sectors of society as they...

The general frame of a short story is understood to hang around a central conflict or problem that the characters must deal with and react to. In this story, set in the antebellum Southern US,...

"And mamma," she added, drawing Madame Valmonde's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, "he hasn't punished one of them - not one of them - since baby is born. Even Negrillon, who pretended...

When Desiree confronts Armand about their baby's appearance and asks him what it means, Armand tells her, "It means the baby is not white. It means you are not white." Although the story doesn't...

Armand Aubigny's plantation, L'Abri, compels Madame Valmonde to "[shudder] at the first sight of it [...]." The narrator describes the property as a "sad looking place," which had not been...

In French, the name, Desiree, means desired one, and Desiree is, in many ways, the desired one of the story. When she is found, as a baby, by Monsieur Valmonde at the entrance to his home, she is...

The conclusion of "Desiree's Baby" is tragic: Desiree's child is dark-skinned, which implies that either she or her husband Armand have African ancestry. In the Antebellum South of the setting, to...

In the story, Monsieur Armand Aubigny fell in love with Desiree when he spotted her standing against the stone gateway of the Valmonde estate. Accordingly, Desiree was adopted by the Valmondes as...

"Désirée's Baby" is dominated by an ominous, foreboding mood. Initially, the story takes on the feel of a fairy tale as Madame Valmondé remembers how she adopted the mysterious Désirée, a...

Close to the beginning of Kate Chopin's story "Desiree's Baby," there is a flashback that explains Desiree's background and how Armand fell in love with her. Desiree was a foundling; the Valmondes...

Your thesis statement should directly address a question or discussion point and summarize your whole argument. Often, it is easier to write the thesis statement after you have created most of your...

Chopin's "Désirée's Baby," published in 1893, explains early in the story why Madame Aubigny, Armand's mother, never left France: Old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France,...

Among the slaves at L'Abri there is wonderment at the appearance of Desiree's baby. Certainly, they would be able to recognize a mulatto, as mixed light-skinned blacks were termed during the time...

In Kate Chopin's short story "'Désirée's Baby," the little quadroon boy who fans the baby is significant because he is the key to the mystery of the altered appearance of Désirée's baby. Because...

When we consider an author's diction, we are simply thinking about the choices they make in terms of words and phrases. A writer might use a certain kind of diction—such as aureate diction, or...

The story is set on a plantation, ironically named l'Abri (which means the shelter) in Louisiana before the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. This location and these circumstances help us to...

Armand is the owner of the Louisiana plantation called L'Abri. He is very wealthy and owns many slaves. He was born in France, but his father brought him back to the plantation as a child. It is...

A few weeks after he throws his wife, Desiree, out of his house for giving birth to a black baby, Armand Aubigny orders his black servants to build a bonfire in the backyard and burn everything...

The overwhelming force of this great story is to present the concept of racism as being something that is completely man made, and therefore only having the power that men ascribe to it. Of course,...

Madame Valmondé's reaction to seeing the baby after a four-week span in which she has not seen it sets the tone for what is to come. Her first reaction is to declare that it cannot be the same...

The resolution of a story takes place after the climax. It is the part of the story where the conflict comes to an end. In Kate Chopin's "Désirée's Baby," the resolution comes after Désirée and her...

Armand was infatuated with Desiree from the moment he first saw her, so his decision to marry her was rather impulsive. He wanted what he wanted, so Desiree would be his. He doesn't consider her...

The last line reflects not only the short story's racial themes but also the theme of a mother's love and how that love can instinctively affect the decisions you make later on in life. The racial...

It is important to clarify that it is the racial role that affects behavior in this story, not race itself. Race is a social construct that does not exist outside human perception, as we can see by...

When teaching my students how to write a theme statement about any story, I typically guide them through the following series of simple steps. Examples of each are provided for this short story....

Regionalism has to do with using the details of a particular place or culture as identifying features of the text. Naturalism is a literary movement that discounts emotion and spirit and emphasizes...

First of all, it is important to understand that the story line of a short story typically revolves around the central problem, also called the "conflict." This means that events in the story are...

Because their baby resembles the quadroons of the plantation, such as the "yellow nurse woman," Zandrine, and the little boy who waves a fan one day as he stands near the baby, Armand Aubigny...

Armand's behavior toward Désirée changes shortly after his son is born, as he realizes that their son is of mixed race. Désirée sees a similarity between the son and the "quadroon boy" who is...

Published in 1893, the short story "Desiree's Baby" focuses on the complicated and difficult to define issue of race. The main character is Desiree Valmonde, who is the foundling child of a wealthy...

There is certainly a sense of foreboding in the story. We learn of Desiree's sad beginnings, awakening in the arms of a stranger, in a strange place, and crying for her "'Dada.'" Whether she...

While Armand is married happily to Desiree and enjoying the expectation of their coming baby and the final ecstasy of the infant's presence, he treats his slaves with kind good humor, even turning...

Desiree Aubigny, nee Valmonde, is the main character of this story because its action primarily follows her. When the story begins, the exposition provides background information concerning Desiree...

For the first month of the baby's life, happiness suffuses L'Abri, the house where Desiree and Armand live. Desiree proclaims to Madame Valmonde, "'Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I...

Desiree was abandoned as a baby and was taken in by Monsieur and Madame Valmonde, who were a wealthy couple living in Louisiana. The background of Desiree's parents is unknown. When Armand, another...