Desiree's Baby

The short story, “Desiree’s Baby”, by Kate Chopin is about a woman who is abandoned as a baby and adopted and raised by a loving family. After she and her husband have a baby, and the baby has a dark complexion, her husband Armand accuses her of being of black descent and orders her to leave. The story ends with Desiree disappearing into the bayou with her baby. Ironically, Armand discovers a letter which …

…issues that was not talked about in this time period or place. The interracial conceiving of children, a husbands dominance over his wife, and whites dominance over blacks were all illustrated in the story. Chopin beautifully represents these issues in an unassuming way and twists everything around in the ironic ending. The struggle that minorities face, especially women and blacks, are yielding with the social changes of today, but the bias will always be there.