Desiree's Baby Thesis

Pre-Civil War, race and the female gender, were both discriminated against in the Southern states. Armand destroys his whole life because of his racism. When the neighbors and slaves on the plantation start to whisper about the color of “Désirée’s baby” (1894) Armand no longer loved his wife and child. “It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among the blacks; unexpected visits from far off neighbors… Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain” (Chopin, 1894, p. 1607). Armand heard what people were saying about his child, and cast his own family away, due to their skin color. Désirée, being a woman treated like property, has no right to ask her husband to explain himself.
Women were not equal during this time. Armand gives Désirée a name through marriage. Désirée “was nameless… he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana” (Chopin, 1894, p. 1607). He gives her and the baby beautiful possessions, only to take it all away, and burn their belongings in the end

The quote “I am so happy it frightens me” (Chopin, 1894, p. 1607). Désirée is so happy, she fears it will not last, and it doesn’t. Another quote would be “Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay” (Chopin, 1894, p. 1606). This shows his how cruel Armand was, and how he discriminated against blacks. Later, Désirée asks Armand “look at our child, what does it mean?” (Chopin,1894, p. 1607) she knows the baby is not white. This realization comes to Désirée as the slave boy, also light in color, is fanning the baby. Armand confirms this when he says, “It means, that the child is not white; it means you are not white” (Chopin, 1894, p. 1608). They mean nothing to him anymore. Not only does this foreshadow Armand getting rid of his family, it is also another example of Armand’s