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Handout zum Vortrag über die short story "Desiree's Baby"...

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Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik American Short Stories of the 19th Century (SoSe 2015) Dr. Martin Meyer

Story: Désirée‘s Baby by Kate Chopin Presentation by Henriette Kaschub 17.6.2015

Kate Chopin’s “Désirée’s Baby” and how race can poison a loving relationship

Introduction: - Kate Chopin: - * 1851 - +1904 - known for local color fiction stories - one of America’s most important authors - grew up in a wealthy family in St. Louis (Missouri) -> used to be around Creole and mixed-race slaves - moved to Natchitoches Parish, located in Louisiana’s Red River bayou region -> got in touch with the Creole community and got familiar with the women’s role in their society -> experiences characteristics which inspire her writing The Awakening - The Awakening: - first published in 1899 - shocked readers with its honest dealing of a women being unfaithfulness in her marriage - protagonist (a women) is trapped in an oppressive marriage but then finds passionate love outside the marriage “Désireé’s Baby”: - first published in Vogue on January 14, 1893 - 1894 -> reprinted in Chopin’s collection of stories in Bayou Folk - setting = Louisiana - one of the few stories that Kate Chopin sets before the American Civil War

In my view “Désireé’s Baby” is a story about how race kills love because real love is colorblind.

A Once Loving Relationship:

Désireé: - does not know her biological parents / the racial background

examples from the text: - “[…] found her lying asleep in the shadow[…]”

- “[…] she had been purposely left by a party of Texans […]” - “[…] the girl’s obscure origin.” - “[…] reminded that she was nameless.”

- cannot believe how pleased she is with her

- “[…] I’m so happy; it frightens me.”

husband once the child is born

- her skin is whiter than Armand’s

- suffers from the false reproach of being of mixed-race

- “[…] she loved him desperately.” - “When he smiled, she asked for no greater blessing of God.” - “[…] I am white! Look at my hair,it is brown; and my eyes are grey […]” - “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand.” - “[…] she laughed hysterically.” - “I shall die. I must die. I cannot be so unhappy, and live.” - “[…] hoping that he would call her back.”

Armand:

examples from the text:

- does not appreciate Désireé’s inner values

- “[…] Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing her

- first: loving and caring husband -> imperious: dominant, bossy part in the relationship -> exacting: strict behavior, having high requirements towards something/ someone - dark type - high social status even though he is of mixed-race - nasty behavior towards the slaves -> shows common behavior between the treatment towards the slaves and later his wife

- cruel behavior towards his child and his wife once he figures out that the child is an African American

- no longer loves Désireé -> believes that she ruined his social status - does not know that he is the one of being of mixed-race

there, had fallen in love with her.” - “Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” - “Marriage, and later the birth of his son had softened Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature greatly.”

- “[…] Armand’s dark, handsome face […]” - “Look at my hand; whiter than yours […]” - “[…] when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana?” - “Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one […]” - “[…] Armand Aubigny’s imperious and exacting nature […]” - “And the very spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves.” - “[…] his negroes had forgotten how to be gay […] “ - “[…] in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. “ - “Do you want me to go?” “Yes, I want you to go.” - “He thought that 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.” - “[…] no longer loved Désirée because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.” - “[…] Armand will never know that his mother […] belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.”

Madame Valmondé: - would never banish Désireé because of her questionable blood / unsecure origin -> shows that true love is colorblind

examples from the text: - “My own Désireé: Come home to Valmondé; back to your mother who loves you.”

Conclusion As you remember I started my presentation with a sequence of the story which is in my opinion the most meaningful because Madame Valmondé shows with her behavior that it does not matter where you come from, what kind of past you have, if you really care for each other. Kate Chopin tries to awaken the reader about how destructive and harmful a certain behavior and opinion towards race and gender can be. Seeing the topic in a more sensitive way, it is clear that one should never let race become more important than love....