The Plot

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.