Desiree’s Baby: A So-Called Love

2 Pages 483 Words

The story was only six pages long, but in that story love was gained and love was lost. Desiree’s Baby, written by Kate Chopin, is a short story which tests a couple’s love for each other and how that love failed. The main plot of the story is discovery. The discovery that a couple’s child was of a different skin color then their own, the discovery that the couple’s love was not indeed real, and the discovery of the reason behind the child’s skin color.
Some would say a major theme in Kate Chopin’s short stories would be marriage. But in actuality the true theme of her stories are love and the lack thereof in marriage and this is quite evident in Desiree’s Baby.
In the beginning of the story love was an important element. Even though it was rumored that Desiree had been in the care of a party of Texans, the story described how Armand had fell instantly in love with his wife, and her “obscure origins” (29) was of no importance. Desiree’s love for Armand was quickly revealed due to how deeply she valued his opinion and how she clung to him in her fear.
Not to sound cliché, but this story also demonstrated how ‘love is blind’. The love that Desiree had for her baby clearly shielded her from viewing her child’s ethnicity. When Madame Valmonde exclaimed that “[that] is not the baby”, Desiree automatically assumed that Madame Valmonde was referring to how much the child has grown since his birth. She was not aware of the difference in skin tone the child had from his mother. Her love for her child shielded her from the truth.
The fallacy of love in marriage was demonstrated when Desiree came upon the realization that her child was different from she. Desiree turned to her husband for support, and he turned away from her. The instant love that was so obvious in the beginning of their relationship had clearly disappeared once Armand had realized that his child was not white. He automatically assumed ...