Desiree's Bby
Uploaded by fluff on May 01, 2001
In the short story Désirée’s Baby, by Kate Chopin, surprise plays a very important role. Although the story has a surprise ending it can still have a second look with interest. While rereading the story I look for the details, which foreshadow the ending, that were missed the first time reading the story. But when I started to look for hints of foreshadowing I found that Chopin is doing more than tell us a story about a couple. She is trying to convey a message to the reader. Désirée’s Baby is like an intricate Aesop’s fable, or a fable for adults. Also an analysis of the characters helps us understand the story and it’s meaning. The main character, which presents the conflict in the story, is Armand Aubigny. To fully understand the story and its elements we must look carefully at Armand and his erratic behavior.
One of the major aspects of Armand is his unpredictability. First he falls in love with Désirée without any sign, later he changes his moods back and forth in how he treats his own slaves, and how he treats his own wife, Désirée. “Marriage, and later the birth of his son had soften Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature greatly.”(Chopin, 82). And then after about three months he automatically changed. “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask of him to explain.”(Chopin 82). Armand is constantly changing his character, and it scares not only Désirée but the reader too, because we have no idea what he will do next or why.
After the story is reread, the reader learns to distrust and in a way deal with Armand’s behavior. We get used to him and we don’t expect too much from him. “That was the way all of the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot.” (81). This quote not only refers to how the Aubignys fall in love but how they go about solving their problems. The Aubigny family is very stubborn and one-track minded. When there is a problem to be resolved it is their way or no way. When Armand saw that his child was black, his only explanation was that Désirée was black. He didn’t even think about the other possibilities. That is probably why Madame Valmondé wrote back to Désirée to come home, because it is no use to argue...