Category: Desiree’s Baby

Through the role of storytelling, an enduring text invites the audiences to challenge the previously held assumptions and beliefs of ourselves and the world at large whilst igniting new ideas on the true nature of the individual and collective human experiences. Anthony Doerr’s 2014 novel All the Light We Cannot See reveals the individual’s resilience in the face of collective oppression. Kate Chopin’s 1893 short story “Desiree’s Baby” highlights individual’s powerless resilience in response to the restrictive views and prejudice. Therefore, the art of storytelling allows us to challenge assumptions on the collective oppression belittling an individual and the role of women in marriage whilst igniting ideas on the individual’s resilience in response to conflict.

When individuals are inflicted with obstacles beyond their control, quite often their search for hope and resilience will ultimately prevail. All the Light We Cannot See explores the omniscient third person view of the main protagonists Marie-Laure and Werner, and their resilience in response to the oppressive Nazi regime in WW2. The anomalistic individual experience of Marie-Laure losing her vision is paradoxical as she sensed the rising war, “she can smell gasoline under the wind.” The olfactory imagery emphasises her valiance against war ultimately challenging the assumptions of the blind and society belittling an individual. Marie-Laure’s curiosity and obsession with the book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea catalyses the resilience in her. “The sea does not belong to tyrants” her allusion critiques the corruption of war ultimately igniting new ideas on the power of individual resilience. Werner’s curiosity with the saying “Open your eyes, and see what you can with them before they close forever” the high modality of the recurring motif emphasises on Werner’s willingness to live beyond the boundaries of the oppressive Nazis, ultimately challenging our assumptions of the collective overpowering an individual. Therefore, Doerr’s art of storytelling challenges our preconceived assumptions of society disparaging an individual ultimately igniting the idea of the power of resilience in the face of collective oppression.

When individuals are marginalised for their background and social status, ultimately the prejudicial oppression would overpower their resilience. Desiree’s Baby challenges assumptions on the role of women in marriage of the 19th century ultimately igniting new ideas on the individual’s limited resilience in the face of oppressive collective views. Armand married Desiree ignoring her unknown family history as he believed that “she was nameless”. The irony challenges our assumptions on the role of women in marriage, ultimately igniting the new ideas of the individual’s restricted resilience in the face of the the collective views. Discovering that their baby was black, Armand dismissed Desiree, “She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep.” The use of metaphor reveals the inconsistencies in human behaviour ultimately emphasises the idea on the vulnerability of Desiree as a ramification of her background. Chopin’s plot twist reveals Armand’s black ancestry, his mother “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.” The paradox explores the individual’s powerless resilience towards the tyrannical collective views on race, as Armand hid his background. Therefore Chopin’s storytelling challenges our assumptions on the role of women in marriage whilst igniting new ideas on the individuals limit to resilience as a ramification of prejudicial oppression.

Therefore, the role of storytelling allows us to challenge assumptions on the collective oppression belittling an individual and the role of women in marriage, ultimately ignites new ideas on resilience in the face of conflict. Doerr explores the power of individual’s resilience whilst Chopin reveals the limit of an individual’s resilience in the face of prejudicial oppression. Therefore revealing the true nature of humanity and individuals natural instinct to survive.

Thomas Sowell once stated that “Racism is not dead, but on life support- kept alive by politicians, race hustlers, and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as racists”. Racism has been one of the most controversial and highly fought over issues in the United State for many, many years. Throughout the course of history minorities such as African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Japanese have all been treated with a sense of inferiority solely due to their race. There have been several movements that made efforts to a post- racial society including those of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Cesar Chavez. Thanks to these great leaders America soon began to morph into a much more culturally diverse and accepting society. However, despite those great leaders efforts and the strides America took into becoming a less racially segregated civilization, the society in a in which we live in today is still haunted by racism. Even though a post-racial society, a society that is free from institutional, political, and social discrimination based primarily on race, is a great idea it is still not attainable. The prevalence of racism in society is highly talked about and debated in the film Crash, the short story “Desiree’s Baby” and the articles “In Living Color: Race and American Culture”, “Millennials & the Myth of the Post Racial Society: Black Youth, Intra-generational Division & the Continuing Racial Divide in American Politics”, and “Debunking the Myth of a Post-Racial Society”. The impossibility of a post-racial society today is exemplified in these various sources by showing that our behaviors both limit and extend our awareness of otherness which is evident in our in the areas societal standards and politics.

One major reason why a post-racial society is not currently possible today is due to how our behaviors limit and extend our awareness of otherness in societal standards. The film Crash is a perfect representation of societal standards impact on racism and its prevalence in society. The film Crash accurately depicts not only continuous racial issues, but also illustrates the subconscious racial thoughts and assumptions from all characters point of view. who are all from different racial backgrounds. One of the characters in the film Crash who particularly exudes the behaviors that limit her awareness of otherness due to societal standards is Jean. For instance, near the beginning of the movie whilst walking with her husband she spots two young black men, whose names are Anthony and Peter, and her initial reaction is to hold on tighter to her husband as if she is afraid. The young black man Anthony then tells his friend Peter “You couldn’t find a whiter, safer, or better lit part of the city. But this white woman sees two black guys who look like UCLA students strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear” (Haggis). Then Anthony and Peter proceed to steal her and her husband’s car. The irony of this situation shows how society has taught people to be afraid of others who are of different races and it shows how not only do people judge others based on societal standards, they also conform to those societal standards like Anthony and Peter did. To go along with that, in the article “ In Living Color: Race and American Culture” the author Michael Omi divulges into the fact that pop culture in our society has an immense role in shaping a person’s attitude towards people of a certain race. This is clear when Omi inscribed that, “popular culture deals with the symbolic realm of social life, the images which it creates, represents, and disseminates contribute to the overall racial climate” (Omi 626). Not to mention, pop culture also controls what groups of races are being portrayed and how they are portrayed, thus shaping our societal standards of particular races. In addition to that, the short story “Desiree’s Baby” touches on the issues of our racial backgrounds defining us. Even though our racial backgrounds are not the sole quality in which human beings should be judged upon societal standards try to keep us in that mindset of judging one another based on our races in several ways. One major way in which societal standards try to keep us in that mindset is by using stereotypes as a basis to judge certain people of a particular race. In the story Desiree is judged because of her race when Armand proclaimed “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin 3). Immediately Armand views her negatively and sees her as inferior to him due to the stereotypes and standards in which society had taught him over time that whites are superior to blacks. However, we eventually find out that Desiree actually is white while Armand is actually not, when the letter is found that stated “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” (Chopin 4). The aforementioned quotation highlights how quick we are to judge people because of the way we have been conditioned through societal standards to view them. Similarly, in the film Crash the character Daniel Ruiz, a locksmith, is judge by his race by the character Jean when she exclaimed to her husband “I would like the locks changed again in the morning. And you might mention that we’d appreciate it if next time they didn’t send a gang member…Yes, the guy with the shaved head, the pants around his ass, the prison tattoo.” (Haggis) Due to his hispanic racial background Jean automatically assumes that Daniel Ruiz is a gang member because of the societal stereotypes and standards that are withheld of what a gang member should look like. Just because Daniel Ruiz is a Mexican man who wears baggy pants, a shaved head, and a tattoo it does not automatically make him a gang member. The examples from the film Crash and “Desiree’s Baby” both tie back into Omis article, “In Living Color: Race and American Culture”, because pop culture is used as a medium to present stereotypes that eventually become societal standards. These attitudes and behaviors of racism are not only evident in societal standards, but are also evident in politics.

Furthermore, another reason why a post-racial society is not realistic today can be attributed to how our behaviors limit and extend our awareness of otherness in the area of politics. The articles “Debunking the Myth of a Post-Racial Society” and “Millennials & the Myth of the Post-Racial Society: Black Youth, Intra-generational Divisions, & the Continuing Racial Divide in American Politics” distinctly outline the issues of race in politics. Especially in recent years race and racial discrimination have been a highly discussed topic in politics. One major instigator of this debate was if the “election of President Barack Obama was evidence of a post-racial society” (Thomas 1). Nevertheless, when juxtaposed against statistical data the election of “Obama has unleashed an unbridled racism that has not been witnessed in such regularity for some time” (Cohen 204). A case of statistical evidence that subsidizes these claims are that there is still a “22-percentage point gap between those black and white youth who feel like full and equal citizens” (Cohen 199). The election of Obama has shown how much racism still exists in our country and how the extremely racist behaviors of the past are still persisting in some members of our country and illustrates the role racism still holds in politics. Often times political leaders are automatically rejected due to their race, such as in the case of Barack Obama additionally politically leaders are immediately rejected or looked down upon due to other factors such as their religion or sexual orientations. An example of how our behaviors limit and extend our awareness of otherness in the area of politics is shown briefly in the film Crash in which the character Rick, the district attorney of Los Angeles, is on the phone after his car was stolen by the two black men proclaimed that “Why did these guys have to be black? No matter how we spin this thing, I’m either gonna lose the black vote or I’m gonna lose the law and order vote!” after that he says that maybe he neutralize the situation by pinning a pin on the black fireman who saved a camp, then woman he is on the phone with later states that the fireman was not black but an Iraqi name Saddam. In response to this Rick exclaimed, “Saddam? His name’s Saddam?…I’m going to pin a medal on an Iraqi named Saddam” ( Haggis). The example shown above paints a picture of how big of a role race plays in political actions. Rick does not want to show that he was robbed by two black men because he does not want to lose the black people’s votes however, due to the recent event of nine eleven he does not want to pin a pin on an Iraqi in fear that people will no longer like him. This goes to show the role the racism not only has on the selection of political leaders but also on the actions of political leaders.

As a final note, the articles “In Living Color: Race and American Culture”, “Millennials & the Myth of the Post Racial Society: Black Youth, Intra-generational Division & the Continuing Racial Divide in American Politics”, and “Debunking the Myth of a Post-Racial Society”, the short story “Desiree’s Baby”, and the film Crash present and debate over the issues of racism and show how a post-racial society is not yet obtainable. The impossibility of a post-racial society today is exemplified in these various sources by showing that our behaviors both limit and extend our awareness of otherness which is evident in our in the areas societal standards and politics. In spite of the many advances our society has made in order to gain more rights for people of various races over the last few decades there is still so much we can do in order to form a society that is more open and accepting of those who have been discriminated against for far to long. Nevertheless, there is a possibility of a post-racial society in the future there are just many steps that our society would need to take in order to advance that much. So the existence of a post-racial society is simply not practical, well at least not yet…

In Kate Chopin’s, Desiree’s Baby, the reader explores themes such as racism and hypocrisy. Throughout the story it is revealed that Desiree’s ancestry is unknown as she was taken in by a wealthy family as a baby in Louisiana. Desiree falls in love with a boy from a wealthy family who claims he does not care for her origin, so they wed and she gives birth to a baby. Though after the baby arrives secrets begin to unravel and Desiree’s husband begins to feel uneasy. Today, the reader would recognize her husband as the antagonist, because his story ends with him appearing as a close-minded hypocrite.

The main theme the reader recognizes is the racism and segregation. When the historical context is taken into account, we see how racist Desiree’s husband Armand comes across after the situation with the child. The story takes place in southern Louisiana during the Antebellum period, taking place prior to the civil war, therefore many years before racial integration. This of course is the reason Armand Aubigny is very close-minded. At the time, people were very much against people of color. They were still working for the whites and they were not respected at all. Interraccial relationships were frowned upon greatly. In the story, those of french descent were very much prominent in Louisiana and they were highly respected and wealthy in the state.

Those of color worked for them, even children, as read in the story. “One of La Blanche’s little quadroon boys-half naked too-stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers.” Therefore when Armand sees the baby, and realizes he is not fully white, his feelings toward Desiree and the baby drastically change. When the baby was first born he was delighted and very happy he would have an heir to carry his name, but as the baby ages throughout the story he becomes cold and mean to Desiree, leading him to kicking her out along with their baby.

The story has many symbols throughout it, such as the house, the stone pillar, and the bonfire. The narrator describes the house L’Abri, where Desiree lives, as a sad cold looking place. There had not been the essence of a mistress at the house for a long time. The way she describes the house as somber and gothic represents the sadness and despair that has taken place there and the misfortune that will eventually take place there. At the beginning of the story it is said that Desiree was found outside the Valmonde house under a stone pillar, many years later, Armand sees Desiree stood against the same pillar and he instantly falls in love with her. The stone pillar represents the nurture and care from the Valmonde’s, besides her mysterious origin, and later when she meets Armand it shows his love that is more of a conditional type of love that he has for her. Later, after Armand kicks Desiree out of the house he burns her possessions and the letters they had written each other during the courtship. Though as he is doing this he discovers a letter written by his mother to his father revealing her real identity as a woman of color. Armand realizes the huge misjudgment he made in assuming because of Desiree’s unknown origin that she is responsible for the color of their baby, when actually it was his own family. “Therefore, the bonfire not only symbolizes Armand’s desire to erase Desiree, but also acknowledges the great misjudgment Armand has made.” The bonfire symbolizes the destruction of his family, brought on by his own prejudice.

Desiree is the main character as she is at the center of the scandal that ends with her mysterious departure. The reader learns that her origin is unknown and that she is adopted by the wealthy Valmonde’s in Louisiana and lives a luxurious lifestyle throughout her life. She is very much fine with her life being taken care of by others, such as the Valmonde’s and later her husband Armand Aubigny. It can be assumed that she is not indifferent to the mistreatment of the people of color, by the way Armand runs the plantation. Even when she is being accused of being a person of color, “Desiree appears to hold similar opinions about race as her husband and the rest of society, content to benefit from slave labor and preferring to die than live with the stigma of being mixed lineage.” After Armand makes her leave their home she disappears and is never seen again, even though her adoptive mother asked her to go back to the Valmonde plantation. Armand is another main character being Desiree’s husband. Armand is very much the antagonist of this story as he is the reason his life is destroyed. His prejudiced manners lead him to banish Desiree and his child and he later finds that his own mother is the real reason his child is mixed. Though it is not revealed what happens next, the reader can assume the agony Armand experiences after finding out his family kept this secret from him for his whole life. In the story it is said that Armand is passionate in an aggressive way, and he is very harsh to the slaves, we learn that his father was actually more easy going, explaining why he was kinder to the slaves compared to Armand. Armand never knew his real family lineage until it was too late.

In conclusion, the tones of the story are quite dark and sad and they continue through the ending of the story. Kate Chopin’s usual writing style contrasts greatly to “Desiree’s baby.” This story has a lot of gothic undertones especially because of Desiree’s eventual death, and Armand’s ironic ending. The themes are still relevant today as they teach the readers not to be prejudiced.

Interracial marriages (miscegenation) and their progenies have been a cause of dissent for African-Americans in both pre and post-civil war era. Whites considered themselves as superiors, and their treatment towards black was brutal and totally unjust. Even after decades of slavery abolishment Act, blacks were not given the equal rights in the White society. Though free from slavery in the constitution; blacks were still considered slaves by Whites at heart, and not only among whites, blacks were facing the issues of racism within their race as well. Passing as whites and hiding their racial identity was the easiest yet the riskiest solution they had to survive with dignity in the society. This issue has been the central theme for many of the regionalist writers of the time, such as Kate Chopin (a pre-civil war writer) and Charles Chesnutt (a post-civil war writer).

Chopin’s “Desiree Baby” is the pre-civil war story, based entirely on the concept and consequences of miscegenation. Though the era is of post slavery, the story contains the elements of slavery to enhance the injustice faced by blacks in the society. Chopin brilliantly characterized her antagonist Armand Aubigny as a brutal white slave owner, who is proud of his race and his family name. Armand is the complete embodiment of the upper-class ‘White’ men in late nineteenth century, to whom race is above all relations and feelings. Comparatively Chesnutt’s post-civil war story “The wife of his youth” is the story of free birth male protagonist Mr. Ryder, who escaped slavery to have a dignified life in the well-established White society. Both of these main characters in these short stories share many common traits, yet have many differences among themselves, but are the perfect epithet of racial ideology in that era.

Armand is portrayed as the only name bearer of a well renowned Aubigny family and the owner of a plantation. Due to his wealth and brought up he had developed a proud and very dominating nature. When he was real young, he fell in love with Desiree, and never bothered to confirm Desiree’s true identity, despite knowing that she was a foundling, commenting “what if she is nameless, I will give her the name, that is the proudest…” Chopin used this pride as the irony of Armand’s life by revealing the truth in the end. Till the end of the story Armand never fails to display his male chauvinism. He was the bread earner of the family, thus was more like a boss to his wife, instead of a life partner. And as he was wealthy enough he never had to struggle for his living, thus never realized the pain of his slaves. He was the most brutal slave owner that his slave even forgot to “gay.” Whereas Mr. Ryder is portrayed as a handsome young boy (named Sam Taylor), who was a free birth and married to a black slave. He belonged to a low-income family, and when his parents tried to sell him as a slave, he ran away. Throughout his life, he faced a real hard time. He spent all his youth learning and grooming himself so that he may have a better living and acceptance in the society. In fact, he adopted a new identity as “Mr. Ryder” to pass as white and avoid his previous darker reality.

Both Armand and Mr. Ryder were married, but the difference was, that Armand was married to a white lady, ‘having fair skin, bright eyes, beautiful feature…’ to whom he accused of being black. While Mr. Ryder was married to a woman, who was not only a slave but was in actual pure black, “as black that when she smiles one can undoubtedly notice that her gums were blue as well…” And this racial origin of their wives turned out to be the cause of discord in their lives.

Armand was a pure racist, and never miss a chance to degrade his slaves, yet he maintained a sexual relation with his slaves and may have Quadroon off springs with one of his slave named “La Blanche.” He was never emotionally involved with any of his slaves, in fact, for him, his slaves were his property, and he felt no shame in using them to increase his plantation’s population. For him, black was the color of shame, and he often used their reference to insult his wife, calling her ‘as white as La Blanche.” While Mr. Ryder though never had any physical relation with any lady, but intend to marry a beautiful widow Mrs. Dixon- one of the members of Blue Veins Society. As he had struggled a lot to become the Dean of the Blue vein society, for him Mrs. Dixon was no more than a way to a secure future life in the World.

As we look back at ‘Desiree baby,’ Armand was happy in his marriage with Desiree until he had a son. Desiree was more like a victory for him, that ‘he attained what he like.’ In the late nineteenth century, women were considered as mere housewives. They have no other role in the society and for them being married was the sole way to a secure life. For them, their husbands were like gods, and to obey them was their foremost duty. In Desiree, Armand got the perfect submissive, who was also a symbol of social standings for him. Armand always had a very triumphant attitude towards life, in fact when he had a baby boy with Desiree he grew more proud with the thought of having a legitimate son who will carry forward his name and his race. But when he realized that his son was not pure white, but more like a quadroon slave kid, all his love turned into anger and hatred. This childbirth plays a vital role in altering and modifying Armand’s identity. On the contrary, Mr. Ryder was never actually happy in his married life. Ever since he eloped from his past, he never intended to return, even though he promised his wife to come back to her. For him going back to his wife was returning to his darker doom and sacrificing all his struggles for a happy life. In the whole course of this short story, he was playing a dual role, one as Sam Taylor running from his past, and one as Mr. Ryder hopeful for a bright future. He struggled a lot to develop a new identity in this society but was always fighting an inner battle of identity.

Again another similarity between Armand and Mr. Ryder that played a vital role in identity appraisal was their wives. When Armand realized that his baby was a quadroon, he accused his wife of being black by birth and turned her away. Though there was no evident proof of Desiree being black, he never bothered to investigate. Ironically, for him, he was as pure as driven snow and Desiree was no more than a stain on his family name and his personal self which he wanted to wash away. All his love for Desiree was merely based on her White self, but as soon as he assumed she was impure, he kicked her out of his life. Moreover, he even arranged a bonfire to burn all her belongings, including the Corbeille (the gift basket he gave her at the wedding as a ritual). This basket is important in the story, because it is the symbol of love and marriage in the beginning, but turned to be a symbol of destruction and breakup of marriage by the end, and most importantly became the source of revealing Armand’s real identity. Though Armand’s wife was not black, the idea of she being black was enough for him to turn her away. Like wisely Mr. Ryder was ashamed of his wife’s black identity and considered it as a threat to his future, thus decided to turn her away and move on with Mrs. Dixon. But as per Chesnutt’s perfect script, the day Mr. Ryder was about to propose Mrs. Dixon the story takes a twist, and his old wife Liza appeared on his doorsteps, looking for her Husband who left her 25 years ago with a promise to return. Even after listening to her story he never intended to accept her as his wife because of the fear of loss of his new identity and social respect. But as his wife had remained loyal to him all her life, a sense of guilt developed in him that turned him uneasy and difficult to survive. He first turned her away, but before taking any final decision, he planned to take the advice of his Blue Vein Society’s members by dissembling his story as someone else. Only after having approvals from his fellows he revealed that it was his story and accepted Liza as Wife of his youth. On the whole, both men in these stories were ashamed of their wives racial origin which was a threat to their identities. But on the contrary planes, Armand rejected his wife and kicked her away to protect his social standings, while Mr. Ryder accepted his wife despite the loss he will face at the hand of this doom.

Lastly, the final stroke on Armand’s identity revelation occurred when he discovered a letter from his mother to his father, stating that she is pleased that Armand will never know that his mother belonged to a cursed race, and he is not pure by blood. This revelation is the irony of Armand’s life, shattering his pride into pieces. But over here as well, Armand chose his social pretentions over his real identity. By the end of the story only he knew that he was impure, but even after being at fault, he never admitted his reality and instead let the blame stay on the shoulders of his wife of being black and let her suffer. Similarly Mr. Ryder faced this identity crisis too, but on the contrary, he accepted his wife in the end and turned out to be a protagonist of the story.

Chesnutt and Chopin both emphasized on the same struggle but with different ideologies. Mr. Ryder and Armand both have identity issues, but as Mr. Ryder was aware of whom he is throughout the story and deliberately hid his real self, Armand in the course of benightedness led a life full of false pride. And even in the end, he kept continuing his fake, pretentious life for his personal comfort. Mr. Ryder had a self-realization whereas Armand never accepted the fact. Thus with the thorough analysis, it is evident that both the characters with all their similarities and dissimilarities are in constant combat with others and within themselves to hid their real identities and to attain, secure and maintain the false ones, and are somehow even successful in doing so.