In the short story entitled “Desiree’s Baby”, by Kate Chopin, the character of Desiree is quite an intriguing personality. The book begins with Madame Valmonde driving over to see Desiree and her new baby. Madame Valmonde is amused at the thought of Desiree actually being a Mother with a child. She is remembers that it does not seem that long ago when Desiree was just a baby herself. She was left by her real parents outside of a town in hopes that she would be picked up by someone who could take care of her properly. Desiree was lying asleep in the shadow of a large stone pillar when a gentleman from Valmonde found her. When he picked her up, she cried, “dada” (Chopin) for she was abandoned there by the stone and did not know who her parents were. Many of the townsfolk thought that she was left by the gates of Valmonde by traveling Texans who couldn’t take care of her anymore. Madame Valmonde believed that she was sent from a beneficent providence to be her child of affection because she did not have a child of her own. Madame Valmonde was wealthy and took Desiree in giving her a wonderful childhood in a well-respected family. Desiree grew into a beautiful and wonderful young lady that everyone in Valmonde admired sincerely. Madame Valmonde admired very much, as well.
When Desiree was eighteen years old, she was spotted near the same pillar where she was found eighteen years earlier by a man from another well-respected family a few miles away. Armand Aubigny was his name and as soon as they met, they fell in love with one another. Armand loved her madly and wondered why he had not had fallen in love with her sooner, for he knew of her since he was a boy of eight years old. Everyone thought that this was a courtship made in heaven. When Madame Valmonde finally approached Desiree and her child, she was surprised to see that the child had appeared slightly different from the last time that she had laid her eyes on it. Desiree was with the nurse, Zandrine, and was very excited and happy with her child that she held. Desiree showed this happiness by showing the baby off to Madame Valmonde, who is her Mother, and sounding wildly about the child’s “real fingernails” (Chopin). Madame Valmonde picked the child up and carried it to the light shining through a nearby window. She says that the child has changed and asks Desiree about Armand’s feelings about the child. Desiree explains that Armand is the proudest Father ever and that they are both so very happy. She said that ever since the baby was born that Armand hasn’t treated any of his slaves harshly, like he was known for treating before.
When the baby grew to the age of three months, Desiree felt that something wasn’t right about her and her child. She had an assortment of visitors from far off whom she had not seen in a while and could not explain their visits. Desiree also found a strange air about the blacks on the property. Her husband, Armand, had also changed. He started being as harsh as ever to the slaves and the love for Desiree that used to gleam from his eye had become dull and he stayed away a lot. When he was home, he would separate himself from Desiree and her child.
One day, as Desiree sat with her child, there was a young slave from the property accompanying them with a fan made from a peacock’s tail. The young slave was fanning the child as Desiree tried to become enlightened about the weird aura that came about recently. She peered back at the boy and back at her child and after a couple of looks from the slave boy to her child, she realized what had made her feel so desolate. The child had some similarities to the slaves. The child was not one hundred percent white. A great fear and terror began to come over her. She lost the strength to speak and motioned for the boy lave to leave. After the young slave left the room, she felt like the life and been ripped from her chest. Very shortly after the young slave exited the room, Armand came in through the door and began to search through a stack of papers on a nearby desk. Ignoring Desiree and the child like normal, Armand did not notice the turmoil that had come over her. She called out to him, but he did not acknowledge her cries. She called out again and again, and finally clutched his arm as she called his name. Armand turned to her as she told him to look at their child and said, “Look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me.” (Chopin)
Armand said that neither her nor the child were white. Desiree laughed hysterically and proclaimed that she was indeed white and probably more fair skinned than Armand. Armand dismissed her claims and left her alone with the child. After he left, Desiree wrote a letter to her Mother, Madame Valmonde, and told her of what had taken place. She begged for her Mother to tell her that she was white and to lay false claim to the words that Armand had spoken to her. Her Mother told her in a letter, very briefly, to come home to Valmonde and live with her again and that everything would be okay. When Desiree received the letter she took it to her husband and laid it upon the desk in front of him. Armand read the letter carefully and did not speak once he had finished. Desiree asked Armand if he wanted her to go back to her town and take the child back to her Mother’s home. Armand agreed that it would be the best thing to do and Desiree left crying. When Desiree went to collect her things and her child, she noticed that the nurse was holding it near the window. Desiree took the child from the nurse’s arms and left abruptly without saying a word to the nurse that had helped her care for the child in the previous weeks. She then disappeared into the woods. She did not take the pathway to Valmonde for she felt too sorrowful, she instead walked through a deserted field that hurt her feet and tore the clothes that she was wearing. After she left, she never came back again.
Some time later, there was a dramatic even taking place in front of Armand’s house. Armand had ordered some of his slaves to build a bonfire and fuel it with letters and personal belongings of Desiree, in which he was not hesitant to let them in on what the fuel really included. One of the letters was from his Mother to his Father saying that she prayed to God that Armand would never find out that his Mother was of the race that he despised. “There are some suggestions that point to it. The story notes in paragraph six that Armand Aubigny’s mother was French. She and her “easy-going and indulgent” husband raised Armand in Paris, where an interracial marriage was, it seems, socially possible in the first half of the nineteenth century, in part because slavery as it was known in rural Louisiana did not exist in mainland France. And the description of L’Abri, Armand’s house, in the sixth paragraph carries overtones of trouble to come.” (Koloski)Armand was the parent who was not one hundred percent white, not Desiree. This finding made him go mad, even though he probably would never have told anyone the truth of why the child was mixed and Desiree would always have something in the back of her mind telling her that she was not who she thought she was.
Desiree’s character is strong, but very ignorant as to her family history. When Armand blames her for making the child not fully white, she has no rebuttal for she knows not where or who she came from. Desiree is a gentle and caring young woman for has a lot of heart and love for her family and friends. Desiree reminds me of a wholesome “girl-next-door” type that is very naïve in some ways of the world, but as long as she has loved ones around her, it does not bother or affect her. It is very sad that Desiree will never know the truth about why her child is mixed, but I get the feeling that she will never love her child any less for being multi-racial. Chopin’s work contained in Bayou Folk, “with such themes as self-reliant women as protagonists, post Civil War racism, male/female relationships and what would eventually become known as male chauvinism.” (Ker) This story of Desiree definitely fits into these themes described in her writings for Bayou Folk.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. “Désirée’s Baby.” 1893. 8 Apr. 2003.
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Koloski, Bernard. Desiree’s Baby.” THE KATE CHOPIN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY.
http://www.katechopin.org/desiree’s-baby.shtml. 18 March 2008.
Ker, Christina. “Ahead of her time: An overview of the life and works of Kate Chopin.” 8 Apr. 2003. .
