LITERARY ANALYSIS – KURBAN ARUJAN
DESIREE'S BABY
The story that we are going to discuss and analyze is called Kate Chopin’ “Desiree's Baby”
that was published 1893. Kate Chopin is well known female short story writer of her time. She
lived in a different places and time depending on the situation and it is believed that she started
to write the stories to get over her husband’s death. Kate was a writer of American realism and
naturalism, often portraying her female characters in a myth-like tales. Her famous works
include “The story of an hour”, “Lilacs”, “A Respectable woman” and etc. But in this analysis
we will talk about “Desiree's Baby”.
This story is a bit different from Kate Chopin’s other works as she often wrote in realism
or naturalism, whereas this story include kind of fairytale-like elements mixed with her usual
style. The plot of the story revolves around Desiree, when she was found and adopted by
Monsieur and Madame Valmondé, who were wealthy French Creoles in antebellum Louisiana.
Desiree grows up and is courted by the son of another famous French Creoles family, Armand.
Soon they marry and have a child, though people, who see the baby, feel that something is
different about it. Eventually, it is revealed that the baby has an African ancestor and it is a
quadroon (one-quarter African). The blame falls for Desiree, as she has unknown biological
parents and family. Desiree denies it without having any positive result and then sends a letter to
Madame Valmondé, who invites her back home. She informs Armand about her leaving, hoping
he would stop her, but is left without any attention. Desiree, being brokenhearted and falling into
despair, instead of home, goes to unknown direction, thus disappearing with the baby. Armand
burns all Desiree’s and baby’s belongings, soon to have a letter revealing that Armand is the one
who is part black, by his mother's ancestry.
The story itself is short, but we are given lot information of the story’s background in the
beginning: the exposition starts with narration of Madame Valmondé heading towards her
daughter Desiree and her newborn baby. Right after, we jump back in time to flashback, when
Madame Valmondé remembers her first time meeting and finding Desiree. It is a memory of
Desiree growing up and Armand falling in love with her, after eventually to get married.
Interestingly, there is a little foreshadowing of upcoming events, when Armand does not pay
attention to Desiree’s origin:
“He was reminded that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could
give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?”
We are back to present time, when Madame Valmondé arrives at L'Abri, the Aubigny
residence, to visit Desiree in for the first time after long 4 weeks. She is very pleased to see her
daughter recovering, however Madame was very shocked to see a baby and even exclaimed
"This is not the baby!" to which Desiree reacted calmly, seemingly being used to this kind of
reaction of people seeing her baby for the first time. It is an alarming tone, as it became obvious
that something was odd about the baby.
After some time it becomes apparent that something is really strange about her son – his
skin colour does not match her and Armand’s - the baby has a blackish colour. This is where we
get to see the complication of the story. Armand, obviously, accuses Desiree, since her
background is unknown and she may have a black ancestor. She denies it, but is left ignored, so
she leaves to unknown direction, and disappears with the baby altogether.
The author presents Armand lonely in a yard, burning all the belongings of Desiree, as if to
wipe out her whole existence from the house. The reader reaches the climax, when Armand
opens leftover letters, to find one not from her former wife, just to discover that it was not
Desiree, but he, who, ironically, had black blood from his mother’s side.
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There is no denouement in this short story. We, as a reader, do not even get a chance to
see what kind of reaction had Armand after reading the letter. The story ends right after the
shocking discovery, after the climax.
The author wrote the story from the objective third-perspective view. We could not really
read the minds of the characters, nor explore the whole feelings of theirs. The reader, along with
the narrator, is just an observer. Although, the narrator could freely switch between the
characters, he almost never tells what is really going on in their thoughts.
Despite the fact that the story is extremely short, it does have a very interesting set of
characters. Desiree, Armand belong to the major characters, and author seems to give a focus
to them a lot. But there are many minor characters, some of them mentioned only once, like
servants in Aubigny’s house, and other being even given some more time like Madame
Valmondé.
The major characters, that is to say Desiree and Armand, develop through the story,
unfortunately, to the bad side. Desiree and Armand are happy married couple at the beginning,
loving and caring, but changing drastically in the end, where they are consider themselves almost
as strangers to each other. Desiree, at the start of the story is a cheerful, shy young woman, who
is happy just from the thought that she makes her husband happy, whereas Armand is also a
young man, that is extremely joyful being married and having a son to the fact, that he changes
his attitude towards slaves and servants in a good way. However, in the end, Desiree is unhappy,
unfairly accused for her son’s colour not being white, and gets depressed, until she just decides
to disappear. And Armand becomes arrogant, selfish, despondent, and insulting, where he does
not look answers in himself, which is why he makes such big mistakes. Kate Chopin managed to
make the characters alive and round, despite the length of the story.
Kate Chopin managed to characterize the characters in two different ways: directly and
indirectly. She directly described Desiree in the beginning: “For the girl grew to be beautiful
and gentle, affectionate and sincere - the idol of Valmonde.” But she also describes Armand and
Desiree through their actions, especially in the end. So the reader could judge the characters and
also have the author’s opinion of them. From what we could see, Desiree described as gentle and
affectionate, though we could also sense her determination and persistent personality, when she
wanted to prove Armand that she, in fact, was white. In contrast, Armand is seemed as strict, and
unlike his father, he was harsher to his slaves and servants: “Young Aubigny's rule was a strict
one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old
master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime.” He does not really consider Desiree’s desires,
especially ignoring her lack of background, as though seeing her just a beautiful item that he
could claim to himself and just give her another name: “He was reminded that she was nameless.
What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in
Louisiana?”. Though, that never meant he treated her badly: aside from psychologically,
Armand did not abused her and even accusing her, never did he do any physical damage. He was
cold, but still gentle to her: “He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and
thrust the hand away from him.”
The protagonist of the story is, clearly, Desiree. She is the protagonist with not envying
end. And her antagonist is, supposedly, her husband Armand. He has antagonized Desiree and
ignored all the evidence she presented to clear her name. It does not specifically points out that
he was the villain from the start, but became one from his own foolish thoughts. From reading
the story, I believe, he is also a victim in this story. Had he known his background, would he
react and act that way? We will never know. From the narration, we see, the household of
Aubigny’s are extremely against black people in their family, though his father had a relationship
with one. It could mean that Armand never really knew his mother. But it does not mean he was
wrong all the time, as the author never says anything about Desiree’s biological parents, because
they could also had black blood, which is why they may left her on the streets. It may be
explained that black people never considered to be proper human beings at that time. So, it is
unclear whether both Armand and Desiree had black blood.
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From this, we could say, that the story has an external conflict – the conflict of the race.
The newborn baby is quadroon; he is not entirely white, which is viewed as a problem for
Armand’s family. I guess they value the kinship, unlike Valmonde’s family, where they had no
problem in taking care of a child they had no knowledge about.
One of the most interesting parts of this story – its setting. The setting takes place in
Creole Louisiana during the antebellum period. There is not much to say about the place, but
rather the time and period is very important. It was the time when slavery was heavily spread
among wealthy people. “Desiree’s baby” was published shortly after ending of the period of
slavery, so her story was still relevant to the readers. We get to see some of the mentions of it
throughout the story. Also, interestingly to mention that Armand tends to respect French marital
tradition despite living in Louisiana: like when he bought corbeille before marrying Desiree,
which is considered as one of the valuable items that would belong to the married woman.
The tone of this tale is very gloomy, especially when Madame Valmondé arrives to
Aubigny's house: “When she reached L'Abri she shuddered at the first sight of it, as she always
did. It was a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a
mistress, old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France, and she having
loved her own land too well ever to leave it. The roof came down steep and black like a cowl,
reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow stuccoed house. Big, solemn
oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall.
Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay,
as they had been during the old master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime.” The description
means to set a dark, uncomfortable view to the reader. It almost reflects Armand, who, as we
saw, is pretty much cruel to his slaves, even his father is described softer than him. At the
beginning the atmosphere has kind of cheerful manner, having description of Desiree and
Armand being happy together. Toward the end the narration is harsher, the tone is drier and
nothing seems to have the presence of joy. This is very impressive!
Concluding all together, we can establish what was the theme and message of Kate
Chopin through this story. The most noticeable themes are racism and gender equality. Racism
is, in fact, a complication, the problem of this tale. Armand refuses to have a baby that has any
black blood, much indicating his hatred towards them, which makes him a hypocrite now that he
is aware of his belonging to black race. He is described as a harsh person, not a really typical
slave owner, as it is not a regular thing for slave owner to be cruel to their slaves.
The gender problem is a thing in Chopin’s works. In her portrayal of Désirée, a woman
whose self-worth and self-exploration is intrinsically linked to that of her husband, Chopin
opened the door to her lifelong query into a woman's struggle for a place where she could fully
belong. The message is very similar to the themes, and maybe has some more to say, although,
the author never tells directly about it.
STYLISTIC ANALYSIS – KURBAN ARUJAN
Throughout the story, numerous stylistic devices were used, such as simile, comparison,
rhetorical questions and etc. But let us look at them with a more attention:
The whole story itself is a huge dramatic irony, where the character is fully unaware of
the truth of the situation’s problem, simultaneously being the problem themselves. In this story,
Armand accuses Desiree of her having cursed blood, when in actuality, he himself was the one
who had one.
 The similes the author resorts to make the description far too picturesque and very
illustrative:
“That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot.”
“The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an
avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.”
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“The roof came down steep and black like a cowl”
“Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches
shadowed it like a pall.”
“The baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a
sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy.”
“The blood turned like ice in her veins”
"As white as La Blanche's,"
 Within these phrases we can see some other expressive means that author uses such as
epithet:
“the wide galleries”
“her portly figure”
“startled tones.”
“turbaned head majestically”
“innocent little scribblings”
“He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away
from him.”
 Kate Chopin also used rhetorical question to give a little hint to the upcoming events:
“What did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in
Louisiana?”
 Also, author used comparison to compare Armand and his father, to show that Armand
was far crueler than father of his:
“Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to
be gay, as they had been during the old master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime.”
 I believe, in these sentences the author used literature device diacope to make stronger
the effect of the words:
"It means," he answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not
white."
"My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For God's
sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so
unhappy, and live."
 There are also some of the use of anaphora:
"Yes, the child has grown, has changed,"
 In one of the most storing episodes used polysyndeton, to show how desperate Desiree
wants to prove Armand her innocence:
"It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray,
Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,"
 There are uses of personification:
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“She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so
delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds.”
“When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to
have gone out.”
 Chopin used hyperbole to show the overwhelming emotions of characters:
“Desiree was miserable enough to die.”
"Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe”
 In this scene, we see Armand buying corbeille, which is a traditional item that married
women in French must have. It is very rare item and also a symbolic gesture. And it shows that
Armand is loyal to these traditions:
“He ordered the corbeille from Paris, and contained himself with what patience he could
until it arrived; then they were married.”
This item also shows his refusal of Desiree, when he burns and demolishes it:
“Then there were silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and
embroideries; bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.”
In the end, I liked the story a lot, even though I am not of a lover of the dramas and
unhappy endings and open endings. The story is sad, however, it does not mean that it ended in a
bad tone; in fact, it is an open ending, where reader could imagine themselves the rest of the
story. Would Armand search for Desiree, after learning his identity? Would he feel ashamed, and
maybe guilty of what he had done? Or would he deny everything and forget the letter burning it?
That is very interesting.
Also, the characters were capturing: Desiree’s actions were well shown, Armand was also
eye-catching. The changing tone of the story, the sudden reveals – it was so intriguing.
The characters actions are explained through the time they are living, but it was a bit too
dramatic, in my opinion. In Desiree’s shoes, for instance, I would not leave somewhere else,
especially with newborn baby, when my mother welcomed me home with open arms. But it
might be about Desiree’s doubt: she also unaware of where is she from, and maybe she thought it
would be best to disappear instead of suffering with unwanted attention from the society? She
blamed herself: “My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white.
For God's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I
cannot be so unhappy, and live." She was denying it, but some doubt was in her thoughts. And
Armand, though, he was heartless towards his wife, he almost never told her to leave (though he
was hinting at it) – it was Desiree’s desire to do so. Maybe, if she and he were patient enough,
they would resolve the situation. And right now I am just making situations to make the story a
bit happier than it is in reality.
I very much like this part of this story; one of the strongest scenes; it is as if I was watching
this scene with my very own eyes: “Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden
gleam from its brown meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off
plantation of Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender
feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and
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willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back
again.”
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