Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" is a timeless portrayal of one woman's startling descent into hysteria and the societal pressures that bring on rapid and uninhibited panic. Desiree unknowingly becomes the victim of her husband's hierarchical cover-up- he puts the blame for the child's condemned skin color on Desiree when he is in fact of black descent. This forceful allegation, compounded with other accusations of not being white that presumably take place outside of the home, in effect drive Desiree and her fragile soul six feet under.
Alienation rears its cruel head time and time again in this story. Madame Valmonde, Desiree's guardian and literal savior, truly loves Desiree and treats the young woman as her own daughter. She speculates, "Â…Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection, seeing that she was without child of the fleshÂ…the idol of Valmonde" (141). As much as Madame adores Desiree, poignant prejudice shines, blinds,......
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Approximate Word Count: 539
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |