The Final Analysis

The story was written by Kate Chopin, one of the earliest examples of modernism in American literature.  Her major works were two short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Chopin’s important short stories included "Desiree's Baby" (published in 1893), "The Story of an Hour" (1894), and "The Storm"(1898). "The Storm" is a sequel to "The 'Cadian Ball," which appeared in her first collection of short stories, Bayou Folk. Chopin also wrote two novels: At Fault (1890) and The Awakening (1899), which are set in New Orleans and Grand Isle, respectively.

Chopin's writing career began after her husband died and she tried to fight her state of depression by taking up writing as a source of therapeutic healing, a way to focus her energy.

Kate Chopin wrote about feelings. She was one of the first feminist writers though that wasn’t her intention. She just wrote life as she saw it.

 Chopin embraced a number of writing styles, taking into account her ancestry of Irish and French descent. Slavery and women's rights were realities that she incorporated in many of her stories and sketches, portraying women in a less than conventional manner, with individual wants and needs. Perhaps, in many ways autobiographical, her exploration of women's independence was not celebrated until many years later. Chopin was in many ways, a woman before her time.

The title of the story “Desiree’s Baby” is thought-provoking, because a reader tries to guess weather it’s about “desired” child or about his parents.

The main theme of the story is racial prejudices though, at first, it seems to be betrayed love. The message is to show devastating effect of these prejudices on people’s lives.

The story takes place in two places: Valmonde and L'Abri, Louisiana.

Valmonde is the place where Madame Valmonde lives and where Desiree was found and adopted.

Most of the story takes place in L'Abri, the place where Desiree and her husband Armand live. The description of L'Abri is realistic. It’s dark and gloomy place, where no love and happiness live. “It was a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a mistress… The roof came down steep and black like a cowl, reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow stuccoed house. Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall.”(simile to compare the shadows cast by an oak tree to a pall)

It provides a background for actions and contributes to the understanding of Armand’s way of life before marrying Desiree. The man seems to be strict and even cruel toward his slaves.

There is a hope that their marriage will change the atmosphere in the place, full of suffering (presented by the slaves’ life and Armand’s attitude to them) and the owner as well but “a great bonfire in the centre of the smoothly swept back yard” ruins it, taking away every sign of Desiree’s presence.

From the viewpoint of presentation it’s an omniscient third-person narrative, because the narrator not only describes events but also reveals the thoughts of the characters from time to time, as in this sentence: "When the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace." 

The short story consists oh six small chapters. It opens with the exposition explaining how Desiree became married to Armand Aubigny, a wealthy plantation owner in Louisiana. As a baby, Desiree was left at the house of Madame Valmond, who immediately took her and brought up as her own daughter. It was eighteen years later than Armand first saw her and fell in love. 
        The development of events starts when Madame Valmond comes to visit Desiree and sees her child. Further the reader gets to know how Armand’s attitude towards his wife has changed and the reason of this change is child’s colour of skin. Because Desiree's background history is unknown, Armand automatically assumes that Desiree is half African American and is the cause of their black child.

The most intense part of the story is the conversation between Armand and Desiree and the climax comes with words “Do you want me to go?" "Yes, I want you to go”, because it’s obvious that Armand’s love can’t overcome racial prejudice. Hurt by words of the man who once loved her, Desiree leaves him with her son.

In rage, Armand makes a bonfire with all his wife belongings. The denouement is the moment when he reaches for the last letter to burn and realizes that it’s from his mother to his father. The letter opens the truth that he, not his wife, “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery”. The man was really at fault and his wife was falsely blamed.

In terms of the contextual type, it's a mixture of narration, description and dialogues, with the narration being dominant.

The main characters of the story are Madame Valmonde, Armand Aubigny and Desiree and they are presented by direct and indirect personages’ characterization.

Madame Valmonde finds Desiree sleeping against a stone pillar at the gate of Valmonde, and she does not give a second thought about adopting her. Being unable to bear children, the woman believes that God gives this gift to her and the reader has no doubts that she is a caring mother for the girl. But still there is one more thing, that contributes to her characterization and it’s her shock when she sees the baby for the first time. This clearly reflects the prejudices against black people at this time period in America that touch even her, but she copes with this and writes later in her letter "My own Desiree: Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you. Come with your child." This speaks about her powerful love and ability to support her daughter no matter what.

Armand Aubigny is the most complicated character in the story. He is the owner of the L'Abri plantation which he inherited from his father, Monsieur Aubigny. He is strong, generous as a real romantic hero at first sight, but the story is far from romanticism. As a husband, Armand clearly rules the home. “When he frowned, (Desiree)trembled,” the narrator observes. “When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God.” Armand shows an obsession with race and identity, he treats his slaves strictly, and this shows his hatred against black people. He is able to love, to become better for his wife and after facing situation with a black child there is a fight inside of him. Armand loves his wife but he can’t stand having “brand of slavery” on his child. So his love loses the fight and he says Desiree to leave. This decision seems to be painful for him because he make bonfire to burn all the evidence of Desiree’s presents in his life, but at the same time it can be just a way of getting free from this  “brand of slavery’.

Desiree is one of the main characters. She was abandonned in Valmonde as a child and was adopted by the Valmonde family and given their last name. The author says her to be fair (white skinned), beautiful, gentle, affectionate, sincere, and the idol of Valmonde. She is a loving wife who affection makes Armand a better person. “This was what made the gentle Desiree so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day he fell in love with her.” It’s hard for her to understand her husband’s prejudices and till the last moment she hopes he’ll change his mind.  “She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door, hoping he would call her back."Good-by, Armand," she moaned. He did not answer her”.

Chopin uses different stylistic devices aimed at revealing the theme of the story and portraying the main characters.

In L'Abri Armound surrounds Desiree with luxury that is proved by “a priceless layette” (epithet), “her own great mahogany bed, that was like a sumptuous throne” (comparison).

Desiree loves Armand and it’s shown through the parallel construction together with anthesis “When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God”. She even tries to justify his behaviuor towards slaves using parenthesis "he hasn't punished one of them - not one of them - since baby is born”

The situation with a black skin child is a real test for relation between Desire and Armand. In order to show how difficult it is for Desiree to bear her husband’s cruel behaviour hyperbole “Desiree was miserable enough to die” is used. The metaphor “she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human” compares her voice with a sharp knife for the reader to see how desperate the woman is.

The scene of their last conversation strikes with the contrast of Armand calmness that is felt through use of parallel construction "It means," he answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not white"  and the epithet  “cold eyes” and Desiree’s helplessness that is shown by paraphrases  "It is a lie; it is not true”, implicit comparison “The blood turned like ice in her veins”. Her panic and even a sense of foredoom is revealed through the case of gradation “You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live.”

 To describe the woman, leaving her beloved husband forever the comparison “She turned away like one stunned by a blow” and the case of simile “She was like a stone image” and the epithet “silent, white, motionless after she placed it there” are used. These devices create visual image of a statue.

The cruelness of Armand’s behaviour towards his wife is felt through the metaphor “he stabbed thus into his wife's soul”

The reader meets the image of fire two times in the story but it is completely different. At first it is a simile to compare Armand’s love “The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire”. The second time is when Armand burns Desiree’s letters “innocent little scribblings” (epithet) and now it is a case of convergence of metaphor and personification “the pyre, which had already been fed with the richness of a priceless layette” to create the image of feeding an animal.

The metaphor in the final sentence reveals the racial prejudices of the society towards the black race “the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery”.

The following can be interpreted as symbols in "Desiree's Baby": “stone pillar in front of the Valmonde home” as a place that protects Desiree, “bonfire” as the destruction of the memory of the wife and the baby for Armand and “October sunset” when Desiree leaves, it symbolizes the end of the marriage.

The vocabulary of the story is rather colloquial but there are a lot of foreign words such as bayou, cochon de lait, corbeille, trousseau, layette, peignoir and the reason of this is mentioned in the text “French was the language spoken at Valmonde in those days”, so they create true to life coversations. Usage of hight-flown vocabulary adds beauty to the descriptions.

Summing up the analysis of the story it’s necessary to mention that Chopin brilliantly uses epithets, metaphors, similes, gradation, parallel and detached constructions to reveal the main idea of the text and to show main characters emotions. It proves that she is a master of writing about feelings.