These two stories by Kate Chopin have a few similarities and many differences. Both stories have a young married woman as the main character: Desiree and Mrs. Mallard. Both women are under the control of their husbands and live in male-dominated cultures, and both women love their husbands. Each woman enjoys a short episode of bliss and also experiences a revelation while in her own bedroom. Desiree is blissfully happy for the first month after her baby is born, especially since Armand, her husband, becomes uncharacteristically kind towards the slaves because he is so pleased about having a son. But when the baby is about three months old, Desiree notices something unusual about the baby, something she has never realized before, when she is lying with him on her bed. Mrs. Mallard goes to her room to mourn her husband's death, and while there, she realizes that she is now free, and she relishes the thought. Both women succumb to an untimely death at the end of the story. Desiree walks ill-prepared with her baby into the bayou instead of taking the road to her family home, and the assumption of most readers is that she dies in the swamp. Mrs. Mallard learns suddenly that her husband is not dead after all and dies from a heart attack because of the shock. 

Despite those similarities, the stories are really quite different. "Desiree's Baby" is set on a plantation in the bayou country of Louisiana during the pre-Civil War era over a period of two months. "The Story of an Hour" takes place in a very short time period in an urban setting probably in the 1890s. Desiree is treated well by her husband at first, but when he finds out their child is part black, he treats her cruelly. Brently Mallard imposes his will on his wife mostly with "a kind intention," not with abuse. Desiree is a new mother; Mrs. Mallard appears to be childless. Desiree hears what is probably a lie about herself from her husband, namely, that she is not white. Mrs. Mallard hears a falsehood about her husband from a friend, namely, that he is dead. Desiree has a support system in her mother, but in the end, she refuses to go to her. Mrs. Mallard's sister, Josephine, is there for her, and Mrs. Mallard heeds Josephine's calls and comes out to her. Desiree chooses to end her own life (presumably), but Mrs. Mallard dies unexpectedly from a heart attack. Most importantly, the themes of the stories are quite different. "Desiree's Baby" portrays the cruelty produced by racial prejudice while "The Story of an Hour" explores the issues of power and freedom in marriage. 

Compare the protagonists in "The Story of an Hour" and "Désirée's Baby" by Chopin.

Kate Chopin wrote in the Victorian Age of the nineteenth century.  Her subjects shocked the readers; often, her stories were not published because of the subject matter.  Racism, marriage, women's roles in society, adultery--these issues found places in her stories.

In "The Story of an Hour" and "Desiree's Baby," both heroines, Louise Mallard and Desiree Aubigny,  face problems in their marriages.  Each woman has to confront an unsatisfactory resolution to her dilemma.

Louise Mallard, a pretty, young woman with a heart problem, discovers that her husband has been killed in an accident. Initially grief-stricken, she finds an unusual feeling welling up inside her:

When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!"

Her grief becomes secondary to her realization that she is free from the restraints of marriage.  Over-protected and sheltered because of her illness,  Louise is overjoyed that she will be able to make her own decisions.  She loved her husband sometimes, and she knew that he loved her.  But this was different. Freedom was happiness.

As Louise and her sister walk down the stairs, the door opens and it is her husband.  Louise falls to the floor, dead from "the joy that kills."  [Through Chopin's use of dramatic irony, only the reader knows what that real "joy" is.]

In Desiree's story, this young wife tackles a completely different problem in her marriage.  Desiree was abandoned as a child and adopted by a loving couple, the Valmondes.  At the age of 18, she has become a beautiful woman, courted by a handsome, young aristocrat, Armand Aubigny.  Mr. Valmonde shares Desiree's background with Armand, but at this time, nothing matters but his love for Desiree.

After they are happily married, Desiree gives birth to a son.  Armand is ecstastic about his son until the child begins to show sign of Negroid features.  The child is bi-racial.  When Desiree realizes that her child is a mulatto, she believes as does everyone that it is her unknown heritage that must be the problem.  Armand banishes both she and the baby from the house.  Desiree wanders off into the bayou and leaves the reader with an unknown outcome.

Armand foolishly burns everything that had to do with the baby and Desiree.  While doing this, he discovers a letter from his mother 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.'

It is Armand that is bi-racial.  Because of his arrogance, he lost everything that mattered to him.

Both women struggle in their marriages.  The men in the relationships were dominant.  The women were there to serve the man. Few men asked or even cared about their wives' opinions.  This was particularly true in the "Old South" when women were to be cherished, but not included in decisions.  To these men, women were made to serve their husband. 

Louise and Desiree loved their husbands.  However, one wanted freedom, and one was forced to freedom. Each woman's outcome satisfied no one, not even the reader.