Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

In the short story "Desiree's Baby" by Kate Chopin, Arman did not know about his mothers racial ancestry before courting and marrying Desiree. In the beginning of the story, we are shown that Arman didn't have a mothers influence growing up. "He had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his mother died there". It would be hard to for Arman to know that his mother was of a different racial background considering she died when he was eight years old. Being that young it may have been hard to understand or grasp what it meant or how that would influence his life in this time period. Also, Arman was a slave owner who was very cruel. After piecing together that his child was indeed of african descent, he became a lot more …show more content…
I don't believe he would have been as cruel to them if he had known it was actually him that was of African heritage. This shows that he wasn't aware of the the fact his mother was of a different race then originally thought, otherwise, he may have felt differently towards the abuse and holding of slaves. Continuing on with the topic of his wife, we are aware very early into the story how in love with her he was. The way he fell in love with her was described as a "pistol shot". When I think of a pistol shot, I think of something fast and hard and that's the way he felt when it came to loving her. Then after the baby was born and noticing as he grew that he was of a different race, he began to ignore her and the baby. "He no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name". He no longer loved her and resented her for the child he thought was her fault. He blamed her for the baby being of different race without even considering if it could have been him. If he would have known he was of a different race, he wouldn't have been so disappointed and angry about the child being