woman holding a baby walking out into the bayou

Désirée's Baby

by Kate Chopin

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Character Roles and Dynamics in "Désirée's Baby"

Summary:

In Kate Chopin's "Désirée's Baby," Armand Aubigny is the primary dynamic character, undergoing a significant transformation from a loving husband to a prejudiced bigot once he suspects Désirée of having mixed heritage. Désirée, though affected by Armand's change, remains consistent in her character. Armand is the antagonist, driven by societal racism, which also makes him an outsider due to his hidden mixed heritage. Désirée and their child are also outsiders, marginalized by perceived racial impurity.

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Who are the dynamic characters in Kate Chopin's "Désirée's Baby"?

A dynamic character in literature

undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude.

Kate Chopin’s melancholy story “Desiree’s Baby” focuses on the young woman Desiree Valmonde and the wealthy creole aristocrat Armand Aubigny. The story’s setting is the old south before the Civil War. Most of the story takes place on Aubigny’s plantation L’Abri.

The theme of the story revolves around racism--a belief that race is the most importany factor in human traits, and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. These pre-conceived notions impact all of the lives in this story.

Armand is a dynamic character. He changes in his attitude from an adoring husband and father to a hateful, prejudiced bigot.  What created this change?

Desiree also changes. She was happy with her family. When Armand changed toward her because he thought that she had a Negro heritage, her world evaporated before her eyes. She leaves the house with no shoes...

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and only her flimsy nightgown and her baby.

Desiree is a foundling child.  She was left by her parents and found by Monsieur Valmonde when she was about two. No one knew anything about her background. The Valmondes had no children and raised Desiree as their own. 

Desiree was a beautiful girl with a sweet, gentle spirit. Armand saw her one day and fell in love with her. He asks her father for her hand in marriage. Monsieur told Armand about her background which he said did not matter because he will give her his family name.

After they married, they were extremely happy. Desiree gave birth to a son which greatly pleased Armand. It changed and softened him. Desiree was so happy that she did not notice that the child was different.

When the baby was about three months old, Desiree looked at the child and for the first time saw that he had Negroid features. She asked Armand what was wrong with the baby.

Armand, she panted once more, clutching his arm, “look at our child. What does it mean?”
“It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white.”
“It is a lie; it is not true. I am white! Look at my hand.”

Desiree’s mother told her to come home and bring her baby.

Armand vehemently told her to go and take the child with her. “Yes, I want you to go.”

Desiree picked up her baby and disappeared into the willows along the bayou and did not come back.

Armand burned everything that belonged to Desiree and the baby.  As he searched through his things, he discovered a letter that his mother had written. It stated:

“…Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.”

It was not Desiree but Armand who had the black heritage. He had ruined all of their lives because of his ridiculous prejudice.

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Who is the antagonist in "Désirée's Baby"?

In the story, Armand Aubigny cruelly rejects his wife, Désirée, because of her alleged mixed heritage.

Although Chopin doesn't specify how Armand arrives at his belief about Désirée, we are told that "far-off neighbors" visited, suggesting that they may have had a hand in it. The text tells us that when Désirée's baby is three months of age, a change comes over her husband.

Previously adoring, Armand becomes cold and withdrawn. Neighbors come from far away, and their visits are shrouded in secrecy. Meanwhile, the servants whisper among themselves. Désirée's suspicions are realized when she confronts Armand.

For his part, Armand's actions (although reprehensible) are inspired by the inherent prejudices of the Deep South. The nineteenth-century Creole society to which the couple belongs is an amalgamation of West African and French influences.

In that society, white citizens served as the rulers and trend-setters. Armand's majestic plantation highlights his power and prestige in Southern Creole culture. However, there's a darker side to the life of privilege he leads. Daily operations are maintained by slaves who toil endless hours in the hot sun.

Although Armand is the most obvious antagonist of the story, it's clear that the prejudices he harbors have been inspired by the larger culture to which he belongs. In that culture, race decided one's fate in life.

For Désirée, the tinge of color her baby's skin is enough to consign her to ignominy. It's noteworthy that Armand's rejection isn't due to Désirée's lack of character or physical attractions. Instead, he rejects her due her supposed mixed-race heritage. Armand won't even entertain the fact that the "fault" of having mixed heritage could be his own and that the baby's darker skin could be inherited from his side.

In the story, Armand isn't the only oppressor—his actions are fully supported by the larger culture to which he belongs.

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Who is the outsider in "Désirée's Baby"?

In some ways, it is Desiree herself who is the outsider. She was not originally a member of this community; in fact, she was a foundling. One day, Monsieur Valmonde encountered the small child, asleep near the front of his property.

The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Maïs kept, just below the plantation.

Perhaps her biological parents could not or did not want to care for her, or perhaps she simply wandered away from them unnoticed. Despite the fact that Desiree is not the Valmondes' biological child, the childless couple happily adopted her as their own, and she became "the idol" of her home. It is telling that they gave her the name "Desiree," as it means desired or wished for.

One might also see Armand Aubigny as the outsider in the story. Although he is from this community and owns a large plantation, we learn in the last paragraph of the story that Armand's mother was black. He has the letter in which she wrote to his father,

"But, above all," she 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."

His mother's race renders Armand an outsider in this white community. There were many slaves, in fact, that had one white parent and one black. Were his heritage known within the community, it is certain that Armand would be alienated, or worse.

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Determining the outsider in "Desiree's Baby" depends on ones point-of-view. We will look at a few different possibilities depending on different personal interpretations of the question.

Desiree: Desiree could be considered an outsider in the story. First of all, she is adopted. She does not have a true name until she is given one by Armand. Second, she is ostracized by Armand at the end of the story. She is told by Armand that she is not white and that she is no longer a part of his family- basically, she has disgraced his name and can no longer be a part of his life.

Armand: Armand can be considered an outsider given his family history. His mother admits in a letter to his father that he is part black. Given this information, Armand would be ostracized by white society because of his mixed background. He is not completely white and, therefore, cannot be considered as a part of high society.

Desiree's baby: The child of Armand and Desiree can be considered an outsider given it has the blood of both white and black parents. Children, during this period, needed to be "pure" to be given the rights of white society. This child had blood from a white mother and a partially black father. Given it was born into a "white family", discovery of its mixed heritage would ostracize the child.

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