Desiree's Baby Short Story Analysis

One character is Sophia Auld, Hugh Auld’s wife. Before slavery took its complete effect, she was a sympathetic and nice woman who understood moral righteousness. However, recognizing “ the white man’s power to enslave the black man,” she transformed into an evil and cruel owner (Douglass 40). “The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work”(Douglass 39). Another example is Thomas Auld, having come into ownership of his slaves through marriage, he was not used to the power and responsibility of owning slaves.

Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts ( Glossary... Pg 1). The greatest example of irony happens when it turns out Armand is the one that comes from black heritage. He learns this when he “finds a letter from his mom to his father explaining how he is black” turning the main plot of this story around (Chopin... Pg 5)

One of the many short stories by Kate Chopin is “Desiree’s Baby.” In this story, Desiree was found as a toddler under the shadow of a stone pillar by Monsieur Valmonde. He and his wife took the child in and years later, under the same shadow of the stone pillar, Desiree met her husband, Armand Aubigny. Not long after marriage, they had a child. Soon after the baby was born, Armand uncharacteristically became nice to all around him including his slaves.

Ruth lived a very sad life with her father, she admire the Black folks they were poor but they appeared happy. Ruth states, “If there was one thing Tateh didn’t like more than gentiles, it was black folks”(McBride 107). Tateh hated black folks so much that after Ruth married Dennis James’ father a black man, he disowned her. Keeping that a secret was better off for her kids but James wanted to know where was his mother from, who was her family, so James went to Suffolk, Virginia where his mother was raised. To find out that his grandfather was a racist, horrible person.

He touches on how terrible his slave owner was and how cruel the slave owner’s wife was. Once the owner and his wife died William believed that they went to hell because they were so cruel. He also talked about the children of the slave owners who, surprisingly, were very kind to the slaves. They would bring the slaves paper and books without letting their parents know.

Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”, explored the effects of racial profiling. Throughout the story, a man decides to make his wife leave because he believed she was black, due to the color of their baby. The mind can quickly become the biggest weakness by degrading a loss, thinking only of the present, and jumping to conclusions. As a start, Chopin developed a sense of lost within each story that dictated the lives of each character, ultimately. Mrs. Mallard took the news of her husband’s death as a beacon of relief.

One of the main issues that Kate Chopin made evident through the plot of “Desiree’s Baby,” was that Armand treated his slaves poorly because of their race. During the story, Chopin says, “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves.” This evidence shows that not only did Armand show racism towards his child when he realized that he had mixed blood but also towards his slaves. Armand treated his slaves the same way that his dad treated them on his plantation. Another idea that makes racism evident during the first of the short story Armand spoke highly of his son and showed acts of love towards the baby and Desiree

In the beginning of chapter six, Frederick Douglass focuses the reader’s attention on how slavery can affect even the best and most innocent people. While talking about how slavery removes the good from slave owners, Douglass also explores how slavery is not only detrimental to them, but corrupts their ethics as well. Douglass remarks, “The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested toward her. Her favor was not gained by it; she seemed to be disturbed by it” (19; ch. 6). Douglass’s word choice and use of antithesis in this section shows how Sophia Auld was a kind and hardworking woman who treated Douglass like a human being.

Almost all the slaves lost their loved ones, and many others were given to abusive masters. This is especially seen when George opens up about how he wishes his life were different and he had never met Tom and Eliza, because it would be less painful than losing them completely. Other characters that were separated from their families are Topsy and Cassy. Both of these characters have done terrible things as a result, such as Cassy and her child and Topsy acting out. Along with being emotionally hurt, slaves were also beaten and mistreated, like at Legree’s.

Manipulation of the African Race in Othello In William Shakespeare’s Othello, racism is a principal theme that drives the plot of the entire play. An outlier in Venice, Othello the moor or African, is targeted by his ensign Iago because Cassio who seems to be unqualified, was promoted to a lieutenant before he was. Iago is driven by envy and jealousy and creates a confusing and elaborate plan to deprive Cassio of his position. Iago also shares these envious motives with Roderigo, a man lusting over Othello’s wife.

Removing Henrietta’s cells without her consent seems to be a very rare scenario and this can tell how the medical community mistreats the Black Americans. A woman of black America origin, Rebecca Skloot managed to surface other different stories of maltreatment directed to the African American community. Blacks in America were taken as people with unequal rights even in a situation like this that talked about right to life. She explained horrific experiences on experimentation of African Americans, stories that were enhanced by fear seen in Henrietta’s relatives refusing to visit hospitals even for necessary treatment. In this regard, the paper will give a response to the immortal life of Henrietta Lacks.

“Desiree’s Baby” Irony Essay In many of Kate Chopin’s stories, irony plays a big part in the outcome of the story. An irony is the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. In her story “Desiree’s Baby,” there is a big irony when Desiree’s husband, Armand, believes that she had an affair and made their family impure, has messed up their all white bloodline, and has made them “cursed with the brand of slavery” (84).

Deigning Acceptance of Race "Desiree's Baby," by Kate Chopin, is a short story about the effects of denial of acceptance throughout the story. Some people think of everyone as equal, but in this story Armand does not chose to believe in equality. The story shows Armand’s racism from the way he treats his slaves, towards his wife, and child. Armand believes that his possessions are more important than his actual family. When Armand’s baby starts showing negroid features, more of his racism comes out.

Desiree’s Baby is a short story written by Kate Chopin. The story is about a Desiree, who marries Armand Aubigny .Armand is so in love with Desiree that doesn't care that she was adopted without knowing her family history. They have a child, which they discover a couple months later that it is not all white. The Armand kick’s Desiree and her child out to never come back, which he later discovers that he is the one with the black background.

An author writes a story for a reason, whether it’s to get an idea across to a reader or to even help better themselves as a person. In short stories, it’s a lot easier to get your point across quickly. The author uses the short time that they have to have the main character of the story have an epiphany. An epiphany is the manifestation of a divine or supernatural being. This basically means that the main character of the story has a divine moment where they realize that something in their life really needs to change.