Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin and the rarity of justice beyond beasts and gentlemans

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) is one of the greatest Louisiana writers, I dare to say of the whole
country. Her origins are Europeans, with an Irish father and a French mother, Kate Chopin
grew up in different environments during her life in the South because of unrelated close
deaths. These undesirable circumstances give her different perspectives of how life can be.
From the noisy, colorful and luxurious Saint Louis to the warm, greeny brown and mundane
cotton plantations in Natchitoches.

As a writer,she can be described as a pioneer, as many Americans. Her stories are

characterized by the cotidianity of southern life seen with a protofeminist perspective.
Including racial and gender topics brought some controversy while she was publishing. Most
influential authors had to deal with censorship or bad reviews in some way or another, but
these difficulties did not make her change her realistic and naturalistic style. She had read
Guy de Maupassant's (1850-1893) short stories which influenced her writing. There are some
similarities between “The Story of a Farm Girl'' and “Desiree Baby´s”, one of her most
known tales, which is set in the first half of nineteenth century in New Orleans and has
miscegenation as its central topic.

In this short tale, de Maupassant told us about the usual problems of a country girl in rural
nineteenth Europe, how men get advantage of Rose, a hard worker, sensitive, young girl who
is dealing with the usual difficulties of being a poor independent woman. We appreciate how
easy is for a cowardly man to lie and run away from an innocent girl who now has to deal
with a new life. Being a single worker mother is not a choice for Rose because in these period
that life implies marginalization and poverty. When her landlord knew about her situation,
instead of helping or supporting his best worker, abused and forced her to marry him. Rose´s
conflicts found his origin in class and gender inequality, as we will see with Desiree´s story.

It starts with the happiness that usually a newborn brings but quickly the conflict takes a
presence when his father walks away mysteriously. Then, the sunny L´Abri is surrounded by
an atmosphere of deep mystery. He realized his son has some african heritage looking at his
hair, hands and fingernails which haven't been grown until now. Armand starts an argument
with Desiree and accuses her for not being white. Then he asked her to leave the house and
Desiree went away from the plantation with the baby. Desiree feels deeply sad about
Armand´s decision but she tries to hide her feelings. She leaves the mansion silently in the
middle of a colorful sundown with her baby in her arms. Her ending is one more mystery the
sticky swamps swallowed.

“Goodbye, Armand”

We could assume Desiree is so racist as the people who surrounded her but we do not really
have any clue for this supposition, she is always gentle with her son and only asks for
explanations which are understandable in her context.

“Armand, look at our child. What does it mean? tell me.”

So maybe, mother´s love is heavier than her pride and took care of her beautiful creature as a
humble mother.

But we can ignore all the common elements the story shares with Greek tragedy. To see them
clearly we must look in the most known Greek play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles and
Aristotle´s analysis of his essential elements.

First, the hamartia (ἁμαρτία), translated as “to miss the mark” and is understood as a fatal
error done by an unconscious hero, Oedipus killing his father thinking he is some stranger.
Well, Desiree didn't know the whole of Armand´s family when they got together, nor did
Armand. At this point society rules have been broken and they have to be restored.

Then, Peripeteia (περιπέτεια) is understood as a no turning back point in the plot. In Oedipus
King will be Oracle of Delphi´s prophecy, the moment the audience starts worrying about the
hero's destiny, as the same way african features appeared in the baby's body. Next step will be
Anagnórisis (ἀναγνώρισις) understood as the hero's sudden awareness of a real situation, is
usually to peripeteia because It is the moment the hero knows that he or she has to deal or
solve a complicated situation. Following the example, It will be when Oedipus knows about
his prophecy or when Desiree or Armand realize about the baby´s race.

Then, nemesis (νέμεσις) happened, understood as delivering justice, a fair punishment,

Yocasta´s suicide and Oedipous´s blindess or the separation of Albri´s marriage. And finally,
catharsis (κάθαρσις), understood as the audience´s satisfaction for seeing the return to social
order which was broken in the hamartia. When thepublc feels calm again because
consequences for disgraceful actions are done. In Oedipus the King we see It clearly when
Creonte gets back to Tebas´s throne but in Desiree's baby the question is, who is our tragic
hero?
Armand, from the German “Herman”, means warrior, a really symbolic name for the
character because of his aggressive conduct. Weeks later after Desiree´s leaving, Armand will
discover a letter from his mother confessing the origin of her ancestors. He has been rude
with his beloved's without reasons, that's unfair and that is not how a hero acts. Desiree is
Kate Chopin´s protagonist and model of conduct. A strong woman who dares the cruel man
trying to repress her. Here is where we see the society values and rules restored, when the
villain gets alone in his palace of lies and the knowledge of his own curse, carrying in his
back the condition he hates most. The ending is just a citric bitter ironic dish of jumbo.

“What pretensions, Madame! The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and
defies” K.C.

Kate Chopin shows us how foolish and radical people were. For example, Armand was softer
with his slaves when he was happy about his new baby boy. Both of them assumed that if she
has one percent of black heritage, she is black which means a disgrace for their family.
Armand starts treating his wife as property the moment he thinks she is black. These were
some usual behaviors for that period, so Chopin did not criticize them directly, she framed it
with all the cruelty and dehumanization they had.

“The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening”

Sources:
Chopin, K. (2008). The Awakening, Kate Chopin. Van Haren Publishing.

Chopin, K. (2017, 1 abril). Desiree’s Baby. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.

Poetics. (1997). Van Haren Publishing.

Hudis, P. & Anderson, K. B. (2004, 1 febrero). The Rosa Luxemburg Reader. Monthly

Review Press.

By Mateo Irurozqui Sicilia

Northamerican Literature I
Comparatives Literatures
University of Granada
24-10-2022