Skin Color In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin

When people are young, they are taught “to not judge the book by its cover” because it can be misleading to what the book context is going to be about. Unfortunately for Armand, “the cover” was Desiree’s skin color. Armand Aubigny, a character in the short story “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, confronts an immense decision between love and race. He becomes furious when he notices his son’s skin color was not white and does not want to be in a relationship with his wife, Desiree. Armand is racist, has power and control of people, and shows arrogant behavior that causes Desiree to leave him. In “Desiree’s Baby” Armand reveals he is a racist person. For example, in the following lines, “It means… he answer lightly…that the child is not white; it means that you are not white.” This quote explains how skin color means a lot during the times of slavery. Armand is very concerned with his son’s skin color that he does not stop to think he will also lose the up to a point, unconditional love from Desiree as well as the love of his own son. The skin color of Desiree attracts him because she resembles as a white lady. In general, racism is the belief that …show more content…
It defines the importance of racial variations by letting a white woman conceive a black child. The birth of the couple’s child also highlights the power that men have over women. The author uses both the development and the damage of their marriage to show the inferiority of women and black people during that time. As their relationship demolished, the theme of power and ethnicity still occurs in today society. The male controls the destiny of the woman because it is speculated that she is black. “Desiree’s Baby” presents the perception of life during the nineteenth century to show the effects that gender and race had on the people during this