Desiree's Baby

Kate Chopin's early short story Desiree's Baby contains the themes that inform the fiction of Chopin, "a woman who lived before her time, whose stories might be seen as a vindication of the rights of women, and an author whose literary works were controversial and unappreciated until many years later" (Gilbert 12). Male and female gender roles are a dominant theme explored by Chopin, as well as issues of race and social status, and these themes dominate "Desiree's Baby."

Desiree is a perfect example of a woman totally dominated by a man in a traditional patriarchal society. Unlike Chopin's later heroines, Desiree does not strive to liberate herself from her situation, or to find her own voice; what she desires more than anything is to remain dependent on her domineering, condescending husband's goodwill and love. She looks upon him as a kind of God, "for she loved him desperately. When he frowned she trembled, but loved him. When he smiled, she asked no greater blessing of God" (Chopin 82). This all changes, however, when Desiree gives birth to a mulatto ba

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Category: Literature - D