Desiree's Baby

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Victimized Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin is a short story filled with deception and victims of society. Most decisions made by the characters in this short story are consequences of society’s view of people and the lineage that each of the inhabitants of its society have. The story takes place in the antebellum period. Slavery was still what ruled the stature of a person and how they treated each other: Any people of dark skin, or “negroes” as referred to in the short story, were slaves: “To be black is to be condemned to a life of subservience; to be white is to inherit mastery. No matter how beautiful or how fair one may be, blood rules” (Rosenblum 2). Not only was it blood that rule but also sex. All women were considered to be inconsequential, particularly in the eyes of a white man, who at the time had all authority over both the Negroes and women. There were so many decisions based on this culture that most of the characters in the story were victimized on some level, beginning with Armand’s father. Monsieur Aubigny Sr., regardless of having to flee his home in the states, was selfless enough to not burden his wife with the pressures of slavery in the states. In order to lead a conventional life with her, he packs up his things and moves to France. She, being a black woman and wanting to raise her child away from slavery and live a common life with her husband and child would have suffered from the bondage that this society brought about to their family. Had she lived and been able to raise her son in France, Armand probably wouldn’t have been so malicious towards Desiree and his slaves. After all, having a black mother in America, rather than France, would have made for a completely different life for Armand. Rather than living a free life in France, if his mother hadn’t died and he would have lived in America, he would have been enslaved. We can infer
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