Desiree In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

Desiree wrote a letter to her mother explaining that she cannot live and for the reason, she must die, however, there were other options that Desiree simply did not identify or consider such as trying to track her origins to prove that Armand was wrong, getting some professional help to help her with her new struggle, leaving that house and choosing to belief that Armand was wrong, or simply just moving to somewhere else and remarry. All these options were most likely available at the time and even though death might have ended her immediate suffering, it wouldn’t have given her the chance to be happy again.
At the time, being black was considered as detrimental to a person, especially in the social life, since it was considered the “race cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin, 4) and therefore they were looked down upon as inferior. A person being told they were black, back then, would have been considered an insult and was considered to bring “unconscious injury” upon the family names and homes (Chopin, 3). The combination of realizing that the child would be looked down upon in the future for its race, her husband accusing her of being of a different race, being told she was neither loved or wanted anymore, all combined to make Desiree feel as …show more content…
Desiree was told by Armand that he wanted her “to go” (Chopin, 3), so she could have easily moved to another town or city in which she wouldn’t have been known and remarrying another man who would love her and make her happy again. Desiree could have hired someone to try to investigate where her parents were from to have information to support her arguments. Lastly, if Desiree really did want to die, maybe someone close to her could have hired professional help to help her with the depression she seemed to be going through and hopefully convince her to not