The Effects Of Race In “Desiree’s Baby” Essay Samples

The influence of race was a common theme in much of the literature that appeared after the end of the American Civil War. Because the end of Reconstruction brought about the era of Jim Crow in the former Confederacy, many authors sought to look at what ethnicity really means with regard to a person’s actual character. Kate Chopin’s story “Desiree’s Baby” looks at the confluence of race and gender in construction identity and in conferring shame.
The isolation placed on the former slaves in the “new” South that emerged after the Civil War is a factor from the very start of the story. The name itself shows the shunning that is going to take place over the course of the tale. By linking the baby only with Desiree rather than with her husband Armand as well, Chopin effectively uses the title to show the reader how Armand feels about this baby. The mixed ethnic background of the baby, in his mind, must be the responsibility of Desiree rather than his. Once he finds out that the baby has a mixed ethnic background, he does not want anything to do with the baby – or with Desiree at all.
At the start of the story, Chopin also begins exploring the idea of identity. The reader learns, through the spinning of the narrator, that neither Monsieur nor Madame Valmonde was aware of Desiree’s real identity. There was a great deal of speculation about how she got to Valmonde, but no one in the story knows who her parents are or what her antecedents are. Instead, Madame Valmonde looks at Desiree’s arrival as an act of God. Leaving Desiree’s true lineage as a mystery, Chopin adds some cloud to this path, perhaps most notably for the purpose of keeping the reader in the belief that Desiree is the source of the baby’s mixed ethnic background, rather than Armand.
When Madame Valmonde calls on Desiree and holds the infant up in the light, Desiree believes that the mother is shocked at the quick growth that her baby has undergone. However, it is clear to Madame Valmonde has noted that the baby has a mixed ethnicity, and it appears that she wants to check that impression out in the life. At this point, Zandrine turns her back on Madame Valmonde, which is interesting because it indicates that Zandrine knows that the baby has a mixed background but has not told anyone. Zandrine’s look away from the situation could indicate her discomfort knowing what unpleasantness is coming for Desiree after it becomes clear that her baby is not white. In many ways, the information that the baby is not completely white takes Desiree’s identity away from her, because the revelation about her baby casts doubt on Desiree’s own ethnic antecedents.
Chopin does plant plenty of clues about the coming resolution in the story. Armand’s home is described as a “sad looking place” covered with a roof which is “black like a cowl.” Around the tree are “solemn oaks,” each of which has “branches that [shadow] it like a pall” (Chopin). These images have to do with darkness and death, and they pave the way for the coming peril for the baby and mother, as it may well happen that their discovery leads to both of them drowning. Even the name of Armand’s home (L’Abri), which is the French word for shelter, proves to be ironic. While one would expect a place with such a name to be a warm, comforting place, as soon as it becomes clear that Desiree does not meet Armand’s expectations because of her ethnic background, she is forced to leave.
All of which, of course, points to the impact of racism in the tale. Clearly, Armand ignores his child because of the color of his skin. The fact that Armand uses corporal punishment on his slaves indicates a sense of superiority over them. This would have been quite a common sentiment at that time, because even after the abolition of slavery, the attitudes that many whites expressed toward and about blacks in this “New South” did not often show much change from the attitudes that had led to enslavement. Even though the Civil War and slavery are in the past with regard to the story, Desiree knows that she cannot stay with Armand, because the shame of having a baby that is not all white would destroy him in his social circles.
Gender plays an important role in this story as well, especially for women. Armand can, from the very outset, confer legitimacy onto Desiree by allowing her to take his name. The implication here, of course, is that just placing Desiree in this situation is a mess. Whether this can be extrapolated into a statement about the general subservience of women at the time of the writing of the story remains to be seen. Once it is clear that Desiree will become a source of shame, then it is time for her to go. The fact that Armand was the source of the ethnic difference almost seems unimportant by the end, because of the degree of passion that first greeted his thoughts.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. “The Awakening.” Course reading.
Wyatt, Neal. “Biography of Kate Chopin.”
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/katebio.html