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The Unwanted

 

             In Kate Chopin's short story "Desiree's Baby," Chopin writes how a small infant child devastatingly suffers from the decisions that are made for him by his family. Chopin also tells why this poor, helpless child is unwanted by his father, and the reason why his mother drowns him because of his father's prejudice to a different race. This baby dies because he is "born with a race that is cursed with slavery (181)." Desiree loves the baby unconditionally, and Armand loves the baby until he is marked with tainted blood.
             In the story, the baby is born healthy and he is growing normally when Madame Valmonde comes for her first visit (179). Chopin shows how Desiree is an excellent mother when she began to dote on the baby. Desiree tells Valmonde to "look at his legs, and his fingernails (179). Chopin then reveals Armand's attitude towards the baby as a devoted father. Armand is known for being the "proudest father in the parish, because he has a son to carry on his name; he also has on of the proudest names in Louisiana (179)." Desiree believes that Armand is becoming gentler with the slaves, because he hasn't punished them since the birth of the baby. "Negillion pretended to burn his leg so that he may rest from work, and Armand just laughed and called him a great scamp (179).".
             The turning point of the story began when Armand's father, Monsieur Aubiny, falls in love and marries someone from a different race. The y must have fallen in love like all Aubiny's .
             did "as if they were struck by a pistol shot (178)." The readers learn that their love sustains all racial differences when Armand's mother writes his father and tells, "night and day, I thank God for Having so arranged our lives so that our dear Armand will never know that his mother belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery (181)." Chopin utilizes this letter to show the readers that Armand's father knew that Armand's mother is from a different race, and they could love each other despite of the color of Armand's mothers" skin color.


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