ipl-logo

Situational Irony In Desiree's Baby

1535 Words7 Pages

Kate Chopin is the author of a very popular short story called “Desiree’s Baby”. This story takes place in the 1890s, during the time of slavery and has to do with a white woman named Desiree Valmonde, who was abandoned by her parents and adopted by a married couple. It also has to do with a white man named Armand, who is Desiree’s significant other. Being the happily, healthy couple that they are, they decide to have a baby together, and when the baby is born Armand and Desiree were both delighted and seemed as if life couldn’t get better. As soon as the baby gets older, Armand started to notice that his baby’s skin was giving off the complexion of either a “quadroon” or “octoroon”- ⅛ or ⅛ African. He instantly blamed Desiree’s unknown background …show more content…

Situational Irony is when an event occurs that directly contradicts expectations (Teaching...1). During the story “Desiree’s Baby” Armand and Desiree have a baby, and everything is going great until the baby gets older. The baby starts to give off the appearance of an African and this causes Armand to be furious and unsatisfied for he claims he is a white man and at the time the Africans were considered low. He accuses Desiree unknown past for the cause of this and accuses her of being part African. He destroys his marriage and family and orders Desiree and the baby to leave and never come back.While being so enraged with anger he starts to burn everything that belonged to Desiree from all of her clothes and gowns to all of the letters they wrote to each other. In doing this he came across a letter from his mother intended for his father. When he opened and read it, he realized that he is part black and that he is the reason why the baby came out part African. The letter read “I thank 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” (Chopin 5). This is a good example of irony because it is a very dramatic plot twist, nobody would have every expected this and it leaves the reader in “Awe” (Owleyes

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Désirée's Baby 'And The Birth-Mark'

    1367 Words  | 6 Pages

    There could have been multiple possibilities of why the baby was not “White,” but due to Armand’s first intuition that Désirée was not white, he is showing that he has authority of the situation and that what he says goes. Because the husband and wife in both stories allow this particular type of destructive relationship, where the wife is submissive and the husband treats his wife like his own property, both stories progressively deteriorate by the

    Read More

  • 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

  • The Use Of Symbolism In 'Desiree's Baby'

    873 Words  | 4 Pages

    Southern authors during the Antebellum era, such as Kate Chopin, author of several southern gothic short stories, published many works that changed the common ideals of southern culture, providing many literary instances that influenced the thoughts about gender bias and racial identity. This made especially evident within Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby.” In this story, she introduces a new and nontraditional concept of thought regarding gender and race, as well as their effects on daily life during the 19th century. Kate Chopin 's "Desiree 's Baby" exhibits several crucial thematic messages, one of which ultimately proves the impact of both racial and gender identities on social judgement, made evident by her use of symbolism and irony, proving that race not only attributes to social class, but gender does as well.

    Read More

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

    784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Signifying that Armand had calmed and settled down once he meet her, he was so in love with Desiree. After a while and 3 months had passed y of the baby’s birth Armand’s attitude had changed she didn’t want to ask but it made her unhappy. Armand didn’t want his family legacy to be ruined because the baby wasn’t white which he believes Desiree wasn’t white either which isn’t the women he fell in love with. This can conclude the fact that people weren’t supportive of interracial relationships and how because of the baby’s skin color Armand’s attitude changed just cause he didn’t want his reputation to be ruined.

    Read More

  • Desiree's Baby Irony Essay

    623 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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).

    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

  • Situational Irony In Harrison Bergeron

    660 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. relies on the use of irony to indicate where our country will stand once we have gained total equality amongst each other. The theme in “Harrison Bergeron” is that the government cannot enforce equality within the people. The author creates a fictional visualization of the future in the year 2081, where the government controls the people and tortures them in order to maintain “equal opportunity” in their world to prove why it is impossible to achieve absolute equality in the world. Vonnegut dives into a whole other level of uniformity in Harrison Bergeron by focusing on eliminating advantages in appearance, intelligence, strength, and other unique abilities rather than focusing on

    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

  • Situational Irony In Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rain

    939 Words  | 4 Pages

    Situational Irony is a very important element in literature and can be found in many famous literary works including Ray Bradbury’s There Will Come Soft Rains. Situational Irony adds drama to the story and engages the reader. There are three specific examples of situational irony in There Will Come Soft Rains: The house continues to perform its daily tasks even though no one lives there, the house is destroyed by a tree branch that starts a fire yet it survived a nuclear fallout, and Mrs. McClellan’s favorite poem describes the situation in the story. The first example of situational irony can be seen in the fact that the house continues to do its everyday tasks even though all of the humans that used to live there are dead.

    Read More

  • Desiree's Baby Foreshadowing

    773 Words  | 4 Pages

    The illustration of the mysterious haze bestowed around the house gives an inkling to the idea that something is impure, mostly surrounding Armand and the Aubigny family since it is their land. This is associated with both the idea that the baby is not white, and that his “imperfection” comes from Armands bloodline. Before Desiree’s recognition of her child's skin color, the reaction of Madame Valmonde toward the baby further develops the idea that Desiree has overlooked the reality of her baby’s ancestry. She was notably startled when she first saw the baby, then proceeded to hold it to the sun in order to better examine it. When she did this, she gazed back at the housemaid, who was black.

    Read More

  • Prejudice And Racism In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    295 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the denial of his past and of his race, comes hatred and racism into Armand’s heart and actions. This goes hand and hand with the denial aspect with the usage of characterization from Chopin’s part. Racism ran high in most people’s characteristics of this time because Chopin put this story’s in pre-Civil War times. With the treatment of his slaves, you can really see how Armand feels about others from the race that he sees as less than, even though he is really one of them. The substandard treatment of Armand’s slaves only stops once Desiree gives birth to the baby, but when there was a chance of Desiree being of an African descent, Armand sent her and their child away without thought, saying “Yes, I want to go” with no emotion showing in his voice or actions (3).

    Read More

  • Theme Of Irony In Desiree's Baby

    1210 Words  | 5 Pages

    Desiree’s Baby is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s Baby” takes place before the Civil War in a time when black people were neglected and mistreated by the whites. Desiree was abandoned and left behind by her parents when she was a toddler by a big stone pillar. She was found and declared adopted by Madame and Monsieur Valmonde. Armand a man that was really harsh to blacks falls in love with Desiree and gets married with her without knowing anything about her ancestry.

    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 Analysis: Analysis Of Symbolism In Desiree's Baby

    763 Words  | 4 Pages

    Analysis of Symbolism in Desiree’s Baby Set in antebellum Louisiana, Desiree’s Baby tells the story of a couple and how a relationship went south very quickly. Desiree’s Baby gives the reader an idea of how women were treated in the 1850’s and touches on the treatment of slaves Pre-Civil War. In this analysis of Kate Chopin’s, Desiree’s Baby, the symbolism of the treatment of the slaves, the deserted field, and the bonfire all signify more than they let on in the story.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Racism In Desiree's Baby

    1280 Words  | 6 Pages

    As a reader, you will notice the impact racism has in the everyday life .Many decisions were impacted do to thought of blacks being inferior to whites. When reading Kate Chopin’s “ Desiree’s Baby” the reader will be introduced racism and the use of local color all throughout the story. In Kate Chopin’s “

    Read More

More about Situational Irony In Desiree's Baby

Open Document