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“Desiree's Baby” (1893)

by Kate Chopin (1850-1904)

As the day was pleasant, Madame Valmonde drove over to L'Abri to see Desiree and

the baby. (1)

It made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that

Desiree was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the

gateway of Valmonde had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone

pillar. (2)

The little one awoke in his arms and began to cry for "Dada." That was as much as she

could do or say. Some people thought she might have strayed there of her own

accord, for she was of the toddling age. The prevailing belief was that she had been

purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day,

had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation. In time

Madame Valmonde abandoned every speculation but the one that 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 flesh. For the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle,

affectionate, and sincere -- the idol of Valmonde. (3)

It was no wonder, when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow

she had lain asleep, eighteen years before, that Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing

her there, had fallen in love with her. That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as

if struck by a pistol shot. The wonder was that he had not loved her before; for he

had known her since his father brought him home from Paris, a boy of eight, after his

mother died there. The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the

gate, swept along like an avalanche, or like a prairie fire, or like anything that drives

headlong over all obstacles. (4)

Monsieur Valmonde grew practical and wanted things well considered: that is, the

girl's obscure origin. Armand looked into her eyes and did not care. He was reminded

that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could give her one

of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana? He ordered the corbeille from Paris, and

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contained himself with what patience he could until it arrived; then they were

married.

Madame Valmonde had not seen Desiree and the baby for four weeks. When she

reached L'Abri she shuddered at the first sight of their home, as she always did. It was

a sad looking place, which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a

mistress, old Monsieur Aubigny having married and buried his wife in France, and she

having loved her own land too well ever to leave it. The roof came down steep and

black like a cowl, reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircled the yellow

stuccoed house. Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching

branches shadowed it like a pall. Young Aubigny's rule was a strict one, too, and

under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay, as they had been during the old

master's easy-going and indulgent lifetime.

The young mother was recovering slowly, and lay full length, in her soft white muslins

and laces, upon a couch. The baby was beside her, upon her arm, where he had fallen

asleep, at her breast. The yellow nurse woman sat beside a window fanning herself.

Madame Valmonde bent her portly figure over Desiree and kissed her, holding her an

instant tenderly in her arms. Then she turned to the child.

"This is not the baby!" she exclaimed, in startled tones. French was the language

spoken at Valmonde in those days.

"I knew you would be astonished," laughed Desiree, "at the way he has grown. The

little cochon de lait! Look at his legs, mamma, and his hands and fingernails,--real

finger-nails. Zandrine had to cut them this morning. Isn't it true, Zandrine?"

The woman bowed her turbaned head majestically, "Mais si, Madame."

"And the way he cries," went on Desiree, "is deafening. Armand heard him the other

day as far away as La Blanche's cabin."

Madame Valmonde had never removed her eyes from the child. She lifted it and

walked with it over to the window that was lightest. She scanned the baby narrowly,

then looked as searchingly at Zandrine, whose face was turned to gaze across the

fields.

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"Yes, the child has grown, has changed," said Madame Valmonde, slowly, as she

replaced it beside its mother. "What does Armand say?"

Desiree's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself.

"Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy,

to bear his name; though he says no -- that he would have loved a girl as well. But I

know it isn't true. I know he says that to please me. And mamma," she added,

drawing Madame Valmonde's head down to her, and speaking in a whisper, "he

hasn't punished one of them--not one of them--since baby is born. Even Negrillon,

who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work--he only laughed,

and said Negrillon was a great scamp. oh, mamma, I'm so happy; it frightens me."

What Desiree said was true. Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened

Armand Aubigny's imperious and exacting nature greatly. This was what made the

gentle Desiree so happy, for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she

trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God. But

Armand's dark, handsome face had not often been disfigured by frowns since the day

he fell in love with her.

When the baby was about three months old, Desiree awoke one day to the

conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace. It was at first too

subtle to grasp. It had only been a disquieting suggestion; an air of mystery among

the blacks; unexpected visits from far-off neighbors who could hardly account for

their coming. Then a strange, an awful change in her husband's manner, which she

dared not ask him to explain. When he spoke to her, it was with averted eyes, from

which the old love-light seemed to have gone out. He absented himself from home;

and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child, without excuse. And the

very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the

slaves. Desiree was miserable enough to die.

She sat in her room, one hot afternoon, in her peignoir, listlessly drawing through her

fingers the strands of her long, silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders. The

baby, half naked, lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed, that was like a

sumptuous throne, with its satin-lined half-canopy. One of La Blanche's little

quadroon boys--half naked too--stood fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock

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feathers. Desiree's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby, while she

was striving to penetrate the threatening mist that she felt closing about her. She

looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and

over. "Ah!" It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of

having uttered. The blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture

gathered upon her face.

She tried to speak to the little quadroon boy; but no sound would come, at first.

When he heard his name uttered, he looked up, and his mistress was pointing to the

door. He laid aside the great, soft fan, and obediently stole away, over the polished

floor, on his bare tiptoes.

She stayed motionless, with gaze riveted upon her child, and her face the picture of

fright.

Presently her husband entered the room, and without noticing her, went to a table

and began to search among some papers which covered it.

"Armand," she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was

human. But he did not notice. "Armand," she said again. Then she rose and tottered

towards him. "Armand," she panted once more, clutching his arm, "look at our child.

What does it mean? tell me."

He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand

away from him. "Tell me what it means!" she cried despairingly.

"It means," he answered lightly, "that the child is not white; it means that you are not

white."

A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with

unwonted courage to deny it. "It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is

brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,"

seizing his wrist. "Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand," she laughed

hysterically.

"As white as La Blanche's," he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone with

their child.

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When she could hold a pen in her hand, she sent a despairing letter to Madame

Valmonde.

"My mother, they tell me I am not white. Armand has told me I am not white. For

God's sake tell them it is not true. You must know it is not true. I shall die. I must die. I

cannot be so unhappy, and live."

The answer that came was brief:

"My own Desiree: Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you.

Come with your child."

When the letter reached Desiree she went with it to her husband's study, and laid it

open upon the desk before which he sat. She was like a stone image: silent, white,

motionless after she placed it there.

In silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words.

He said nothing. "Shall I go, Armand?" she asked in tones sharp with agonized

suspense.

"Yes, go."

"Do you want me to go?"

"Yes, I want you to go."

He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him; and felt, somehow,

that he was paying Him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's soul.

Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought

upon his home and his name.

She turned away like one stunned by a blow, and walked slowly towards the door,

hoping he would call her back.

"Good-by, Armand," she moaned.

He did not answer her. That was his last blow at fate.

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Desiree went in search of her child. Zandrine was pacing the sombre gallery with it.

She took the little one from the nurse's arms with no word of explanation, and

descending the steps, walked away, under the live-oak branches.

It was an October afternoon; the sun was just sinking. Out in the still fields the

negroes were picking cotton.

Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore.

Her hair was uncovered and the sun's rays brought a golden gleam from its brown

meshes. She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation

of Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her

tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds.

She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the

deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.

Some weeks later there was a curious scene enacted at L'Abri. In the centre of the

smoothly swept back yard was a great bonfire. Armand Aubigny sat in the wide

hallway that commanded a view of the spectacle; and it was he who dealt out to a

half dozen negroes the material which kept this fire ablaze.

A graceful cradle of willow, with all its dainty furbishings, was laid upon the pyre,

which had already been fed with the richness of a priceless layette. Then there were

silk gowns, and velvet and satin ones added to these; laces, too, and embroideries;

bonnets and gloves; for the corbeille had been of rare quality.

The last thing to go was a tiny bundle of letters; innocent little scribblings that

Desiree had sent to him during the days of their espousal. There was the remnant of

one back in the drawer from which he took them. But it was not Desiree's; it was part

of an old letter from his mother to his father. He read it. She was thanking God for

the blessing of her husband's love:--

"But above all," she wrote, "night and day, I thank the good God for having so

arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores

him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery." # (The End)

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Writing Assignment:

1. From the first 4 paragraphs of this story, what do we KNOW about Desiree?

What do we NOT KNOW about Desiree? Keep your answer to one or two

sentences (~50-60 words). Try your best to use at least one or two brief quote

from the story and integrate it/them into your sentence(s).

2. The Literary Device called COSMIC IRONY (or “Irony of Fate”) means a higher

power – usually God in Western Literature prior to the 21st Century) –

“meddles” into human relationships. With COSMIC IRONY in mind, What does

Chopin mean with the expression “beneficent Providence”? How is this idea an

underlying ideal in the entire story? Give TWO MORE EXAMPLES of other

references to God (COSMIC MEDDLING) and how this element of Fiction

affects the story.

3. The Literary Device SITUATIONAL IRONY means “an unexpected twist.” We saw

a terrific example of this in “The Story of an Hour”: we expected Brently

Mallard to be the one who is DEAD. But at the end of the story, Brently walks

in and his wife suddenly drops DEAD “of a joy that kills” (lol). How would you

summarize the “Situational Irony” in “Desiree’s Baby”? See if you can offer not

only a summary (in your own words) but also a few key quotes to support your

summation.

TOTAL WORD COUNT: 250 - 500 words (3/4 to 1-1/2 pgs in MLA).