ipl-logo

Unconditional Love In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

882 Words4 Pages

The Dark Contrast Between Unconditional and Conditional Love Mistreatment, manipulation, and lack of unconditional love much like they were prevalent themes in the antebellum era when author Kate Chopin existed, happen more and more everyday in relationships and marriages. During these two era’s a relationships could only exist within the same race, two different cultures were not allowed to be together. Kate Chopin introduces a theme of gender bias to exhibit obvious contrast between types of love portraying a message to the reader, through her use of symbolism and irony, that proves Desiree’s unconditional love for Armond and his lack of unconditional love for his wife and child. Armand, a great man in the beginning of the story, his male superiority showed and he mistreated Desiree as the story progressed. Armand was an admirable husband who Desiree was madly in love with. Their relationship was strong and the love between them could be described as unbreakable. Chopin said “It was no wonder, …show more content…

Chopin expresses two types of love in the story “ Desiree’s Baby”, unconditional and conditional love. Armand shows both unconditional and conditional love toward Desiree; at the beginning his love for her was real, but after being gender bias he began to manipulate her and show conditional love. Ways Armand showed conditional love began after he thought she was black, he told her she had to leave. Desiree asked “Do you want me to go?” and Armand responded,“Yes, I want you to go.” (3) In addition to, he ignored her when she tried to talk to him and was answering with short responses. Additionally, he cheated on her with another woman as depicted from the story. The author states, “As white as La Blanche’s,” he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with their child”( Chopin 3). By this you see can see how he manipulated her and expressed his lack of unconditional

Show More
Related

  • Chopin's Letter To His Baby Dialectical Journal

    240 Words  | 1 Pages

    Finally, the short story ended with the words from his mother’s letter that told us that he was part black. His baby was a different color because of him not because of Desiree. Armand, had not wanted Desiree because of the thought that she was the reason why his child was a different color. The ending of the book leaves one’s thinking how they ended up after the letter. Chopin, wanted the reader to feel exactly how she felt about people being so racist.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Loving V. Virginia And Desiree's Baby

    784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Armand’s father had brought him home from paris, when he was eight, after his mother died. He came from a wealthy family. According to the Armand’s father thought of Desiree didn’t seem like he was happy because the way he grew up, he wanted someone from the same wealth as them. After they had gotten married and they were expecting a baby, the day had come of the birth of the child Mrs. Valmonde was surprised about the baby when she saw it because perhaps the kid didn’t look like one of the parent’s. “ Marriage, and later the birth of his so had softened Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature greatly.”

    Read More

  • Examples Of Irony In Desiree's Baby

    1267 Words  | 6 Pages

    Surely, only an opposing, selfish, and insensitive person could send their wife and child away upon realizing that they both were mixed race. In Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”, however, protagonist, Desiree, is altered over just a few days as she goes from being thankful from the happiness of her husband and baby into saddened and betrayed by her lover. The story eventfully shows how racism and denial both play a part in the way the future may turn out. From the time that the story begins, one can see that the love between Armand and Desiree is what they say to be a dream come true. It’s the love that everyone asks for.

    Read More

  • Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

    1283 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Racism In Désirée's Baby

    883 Words  | 4 Pages

    Armand becomes enraged at the sight of his mixed child, and begins to relinquish this rage upon his slaves, with Chopin writing that the “very spirit of Satan” overtook him in how he dealt with them. Désirée, directly in Armand’s crosshairs on behalf of her obscure origins and his white pride, will soon shiver in his coldness and be kept powerless by his

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing And Allusion In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

    1203 Words  | 5 Pages

    Desiree says good-bye to Armand and goes to the deserted field with her child and never came back. Armand was burning all of Desiree’s and the child’s materials into the bonfire. Then he found some letters from Desiree, but one was from his mother to his father, the letter said that she was grateful that Armand would never find out his mother was of slave heritage (Chopin). In “Desiree’s Baby, “ Kate Chopin uses imagery, foreshadowing and allusion to develop the ominos, mystery and sad story.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Desiree's Baby And The Story Of An Hour

    568 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “ Desiree’s Baby” and “ The Story of An Hour” written by Kate Chopin the audience analyzes the themes of love and marriage presented by the author in a unique style that is different from other authors during this time period. The similarities that the two short stories address include both of the women who happen to be young wives living under a male dominated culture as well as being under the control of their husbands whom they loved. However, the themes of the two stories are different. In “Desiree’s Baby” the theme portrays cruelty that is expressed through racial prejudice as well as being “blinded” by the ones you love, as compared to “ The Story of An Hour” which gives the reader a chance to explore the issue of forbidden joy in independence, and oppressiveness in marriage.

    Read More

  • Prejudice And Racism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    295 Words  | 2 Pages

    Armand was supposedly having an affair with La Blanche, one of the family’s slaves. This is form of racism because having an affair is unacceptable in the first place, but if anyone knew that Armand was having an affair with a black woman, it would have been the end. Armand wanted to keep everything under wrap and under his complete control. Whether this is a form of misleading the reader to think this or not, Chopin hinted that there was some cracks in the marriage of Armand and Desiree. Irony and foreshadowing and maybe even examples of misleading the reader are used to show how racist Armand can be and the way this racism causes him to act in general and towards

    Read More

  • Tone In Desiree's Baby

    1072 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Desiree’s Baby” is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s baby” is a story about a family in the era where the colored were neglected and treated poorly. Desiree was abandoned and left as a baby. When she was adopted she grew up in a very wealthy family. Armand and Desiree have known each other ever since they were little so when they grew up they got married.

    Read More

  • Feminism In Desiree's Baby

    1183 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby, an adopted girl named Desiree falls in love, marries into a wealthy family, and ends up having a child seeming to contain African descent. She is scorned for this from her once loving, now hateful husband, and is basically forced to leave, her child along with her. At the end of the story, Desiree’s husband, Armand, learns through a letter from his mother to his father that he is the one that actually bears the African descent. Desiree was only blamed for this because of the fact that she was adopted and did not know who she belonged to. It was not even considered that Armand had African blood because he came from a respected family.

    Read More

  • Unconditional Love In Desiree's Baby

    1012 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the era in which this short story was written, southern authors had a major influence on the way the culture was going to grow with racism, and also the way people loved each other. Kate Chopin, a traditional author who believed in southern ways, exemplifies how race and the characteristics of conditional love played a role in her story. In “Desiree’s Baby,” the author, Kate Chopin, provides an illustration of conditional love exemplified by the character, Armand, towards his wife and child; furthermore, Chopin provides instances of irony, elements of surprise, foreshadowing, and symbolism to prove that Armand’s love for both of them was not the unconditional love typically felt and portrayed by women, such as Desiree, during this era. Throughout the story, the readers notice different times where Chopin uses elements of surprise. One major surprise is when Armand opens the letter from his mother and finds out that he has African American in his bloodline.

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Desiree's Baby

    1326 Words  | 6 Pages

    “Desiree’s Baby”, is a short story written by Kate Chopin. This short story is about a woman named Desiree, abandoned at a very young age, who grew up to fall in love with Armand Aubigny. Armand was born into a very wealthy family, who fell in love easily, very strict and owners of slaves. Desiree then conceived Armand’s child, who instantly changed the way he thought once the child was born. Desiree’s mother, Madame Valmonde, was scheduled to see the baby in L’Abri since she had not seen it in four weeks.

    Read More

  • Self-Identity And Freedom In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

    770 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects the mental or emotional state of a person. Chopin argues that only through death can one be finally freed. The author makes strong, yet subtle statements towards humanity and women’s rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin demonstrates how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a

    Read More

  • Characterization In Desiree's Baby

    885 Words  | 4 Pages

    Her characteristics can be described differently before and after various turning points in the short story. Since Desiree is the centerpiece of Chopin’s literary work, it is obvious that she must develop in some way to make the story what it

    Read More

  • Theme Of Racism In Desiree's Baby

    1280 Words  | 6 Pages

    He hardly knew Desiree, yet he married her anyway and had a son. Another literary device that is used in “Desiree’s Baby” is situational and dramatic irony. For example, like Jeniffer Smith states in Short Stories for Students that “ Several critics of “Desiree’s Baby” have charged that the ending is a trick ending, or an O. Henry ending, so-named after the short story writer famous for the reversals that came at the end of his stories”(Smith 73). Chopin is well known for using these endings in her stories. Just like in the “Story of an Hour” Chopin uses situational irony to keep the reader entertained and to shock the reader in the end.

    Read More

More about Unconditional Love In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

Open Document