Des Baby
What are the real driving forces behind love?
Desiree’s Baby written by Kate Chopin
Analysis provided by Talon Thomas
The short story Desiree’s Baby written by Kate Chopin is wonderfully thought provoking and embodies all of the makings of a classic Greek tragedy. This short literary work is beautifully constructed to tug at the heartstrings as well. In this essay I will brake down the structureurl framework and message underlining the tale. They’re by revealing the intricacies and questions presented in this fantastic piece of historical fiction.
The Setting is amongst the upper class creoles elitist living in Louisiana in the year 1894. Chopin constructs this short story to posing many questions. Is love really blind; what factors dictate the outcomes of relationships and which of these factors have more power. As the plot unfolds a discovery is made about the family’s lineage when the two main characters Desiree and Armand have a baby together.
This discovery, and the way the author’s characters behave as a result of it, gives the reader a view into her opinions on the validity of the “love at first sight” theory. During their first encounter Armand proclaimed to have fallen madly in love with Desiree, “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 or like anything that dives headlong over all obstacles”. This blazing declaration of though enthralling is sort lived. The two main characters Armand and Desiree are “white” and after the birth of their baby they come discover much to their horror that black blood somewhere in the family line. This becomes clear because the child physically displays black characteristics.
This (needless to say) turns the entire dynamic of Desiree and Armand’s relationship...
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