Desiree's Baby Characters Analysis

 Mrs. Valmonde - Desiree’s white Southern aristocratic foster mother who adopts Desiree when she is found on the Valmonde ranch. She sees Desiree as a divine blessing since she is unable to conceive a child of her own with her husband. She fails to warn Desiree when she notices her child’s African heritage, but she offers her daughter continued love and acceptance, unlike Armand.

Mr. Valmonde - Desiree’s white Southern Aristocratic foster Father who finds Desiree abandoned on his ranch. He attempts to remind Armand of Desiree’s unknown background when the youth first proposes to marry Desiree.

Armand Aubigny - He is the scion of an illustrious family of landowners in Louisiana. He is raised in France until the age of eight, which is when he returns to the family ranch, L’Abri. He suddenly falls in love with Desiree when he sees her standing next to the pillar where she had been discovered as a child. He is a short-tempered man with a violent disposition which he frequently unleashes on his slaves. He loses all respect and feeling for Desiree when he begins to believe that she has African heritage. He later learns that his mother had been African.

Desiree Valmonde - She is found on the Valmonde ranch, and raised as a white aristocrat by the Valmondes. Her origins are never truly known, despite which she is married to Armand Aubigny, a considerably rich heir of an old and wealthy Southern Family. She later has a child with him, and though Armand is happy with the child at first, his attitude changes quickly. Desiree notices the similarity her child bears to a child of La Blanche, Armand’s slave, which has most likely been fathered by Armand Aubigny.

La Blanche - Armand Aubigny’s slave whose name translates to mean the white one. It is strongly implied that Armand has sexual relations with her, and fathers more than one child with her.