Comparing Chopin's Baby 'And Lamb To The Slaughter'

In Chopin’s story “Desiree’s Baby”, Desiree and her husband, Armand, are ecstatic when she gives birth to a child. Later on Armand starts acting distant because he believes that she and her child are mixed. He suggest her to leave to her mother's home. Desiree then disappears and walks the opposite direction of her mother’s home, with the child in her arms. In Dahl’s story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, a detective's wife, named Mary, is in shock after the devastating news that her husband is leaving even though she is six months pregnant. She goes to the kitchen, grabs a frozen lamb leg and bats the back of his head with such a force that kills him instantly. These two stories are distinct because the setting, mood & tone and conflict are contrasting. …show more content…
Chopin’s tone in “Desiree’s Baby” is worried and miserable. Desiree detects the change of the atmosphere around her and Armand. In the story it states, “Then a strange, an awful change in her husband’s manner, which she dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home; and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse.” The mood of this story is heartbroken and it is set when Armand asks her to leave; the story says, “She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door, hoping he would call her back.” The author’s tone in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is vengeful and enraged. In the last couple of lines the story shows the conversation between the detectives while they are eating the lamb leg supper Mary prepared. They are searching for the weapon and become irritated. They suspect the weapon would be heavy because it shattered Mr. Maloney’s cranium. One of the detectives state “It’s probably right under our noses. What do you think, Jack?”. The writer’s tone is also ironic because the weapon is “right under their noses”. Mary reacts to the irony by laughing in the kitchen by herself. The tone of this story creates a mood that is suspenseful and …show more content…
Desiree leaves because her husband rejects her. She is mixed, between white and black, which meant she is black; therefore their child was black. Her husband couldn’t overlook that fact and decided he was repaying God by letting her leave. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Mary is six months pregnant and loaths that her husband is leaving. She doesn’t take the news well and decides that her weapon is a lamb leg. She is very stealthy and covers up the scene by putting the lamb leg in the oven. She goes about the day like nothing had happened.
Both of these stories show that over time women have changed throughout. Heartbreaks are deep wounds that should ben learned from. For example, in “Desiree’s Baby”, love is never enough. It can be learned from “Lamb to the Slaughter”, that not everything and everyone is perfect. Life can seem perfect but it never