Realism In Desiree's Baby, By Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was a Realism author during the mid to late 19th century. Born to a household mixed with French and Irish, Chopin grew up speaking both French and English and experienced a fusion of two cultures. Later on, she marries Oscar Chopin and moves to Louisiana, which is where the large majority of Chopin’s stories take place (“Kate Chopin” paragraph 3). Her stories usually have slavery or women’s rights as its background. These characteristics are true for “Desiree’s Baby”. This Chopin piece was published in 1893. It is a Realism short story that depicts the separation of a father from his wife and new son is induced by the father’s ignorance of his heritage (Clark 4). In the story, the birth of Armand Aubigny and Desiree’s baby sparks an argument between the parents, with the point of the argument being each others’ ethnicity. Tension between the two causes them to separate. Once separated, Armand, who firmly believed himself to be purely white, unearths his true roots through a letter between his father and mother. In this letter, Armand’s mother says, “I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.”(Chopin 4) “Desiree’s Baby” is an example of the …show more content…
Chopin used this story is to expose the public to miscegenation. Miscegenation was a man reason why many wives and children were disowned or killed during slavery. Desiree’s baby was a victim of this because of the unknown background of his father. Because of miscegenation, not only will the baby and Desiree suffer, so will Armand. Armand name is now tainted because of the color of his new born. He tries to up hold his middle-high class status as long as he could but the truth hurts. When he is getting rid of the old memories, he tries to suppress that he is actual mixed