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Desiree’s baby and Gender Outlaw

Name

Institution Affiliation
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Desiree is a fictional character in Desiree’s baby and she is notably facing discrimination

due to the skin color of her child. Desiree is married to Armand who hails from a wealthy and

highly respected French family and when they get a child, it becomes clear that his child, and to

extension, his wife has an African ancestry (Chopin, n.d.). Consequently, Armand scorns her and

even burns whatever Desiree owned. Nevertheless, in the end, the reader understands that it was

Armand who came from African ancestry (Chopin, n.d.). It is a reflection of how society is

restrictive to individuals because of their race as it is in the case of Desiree.

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us is a non-fictional story that features

a character known as Kate Bornstein. In this story, Bornstein refers to herself/himself as the rest

of us because she neither regards herself being male nor female and this limits her role in society

(Bornstein, n.d). Bornstein presents as non-binary gender but society does not see that way and

instead views Bornstein as queer and this limits it difficult to blend. For instance, the queer view

limits his/her participation in sports (Bornstein, n.d). Bornstein is given the male gender at birth

though she associates herself as female, and as a result, society cannot accept Bornstein to

participate in sports as a female.

These two characters sheer struggles are distinguished by the outcomes. Desiree accepts

her fate when she is scorned and thus she returns to her home and cares for the child on her own

(Chopin, n.d.). Bornstein, on the other hand, is resilient and through this, she becomes successful

in her career. Born as a male, she decides to transit to female but later decided to partly male and

partly female (Bornstein, n.d). Through the sentiments “rest of us” Bornstein is able to make the

world listen and somehow understand what people like her think and feel.

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References

Kate Bornstein: Biography,https://www.speakoutnow.org/speaker/bornstein-kate and Chapters 1

and 2 from Gender Outlaw,

Kate Chopin: Biography, Vol. 2, pp. 441-442 and "Désirée's Baby," Vol. 2 pp. 442-446