Question

“Desiree’s Baby” begins like a Romantic story, but the idealized plot and setting are quickly undercut. Why would Chopin do this? What is her purpose?

need a few pointers to get me started with answering this question please!

ENGLISH QUESTION

Answer 1

• Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible – it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could” are words deeply moving and thoughtful to love and life.
• In Kate Chopin’s Desiree’s Baby, it seemed Armand Aubigny’s love for his baby and wife had done exactly that, transformed him into a happier plantation owner. His wife, Desiree Aubigny, thrived in the love he was pouring out because “she loved him desperately.” Their love was immediate as was his parent’s love when they lived in Paris.
• It seemed Armand and Desiree’s life was to be a fairytale from their “pistol shot” love and marriage to their newborn boy that would carry – on the Aubigny’s family name. This fairytale was tragically short – lived, the newborn baby carried African American characteristics. Armand quickly turned on Desiree and proceeded to kick her off the plantation. The last time he saw her was when “she disappeared among the reeds and willows and she did not come back.”
• He blamed her due to her questionable heritage of being an orphan before she was welcomed into the Valmonde’s home. When in truth, he held the African American trait in his blood on his mother’s side. Chopin shows one that in true love there is colorblindness; but in others, it relies completely on the blood beneath the skin.
• Desiree's heritage is unknown. She was abandoned as a baby and raised by.As long as everything fits, Armand Aubigny finds contentment in his marriage. In the story, “Desiree's Baby” by Kate Chopin, a cruel twist of fate ruins everything for the protagonist Desiree Aubigny.
• Like many american men Armand finds the worth of the person depending upon her race.If he truly loved,he would never abandon them.In todays time,these views dont hold any importance,views on the races dating and marriage have definitely become more liberal now.
• While the end of “Désirée’s Baby” is where the turn occurs when we discover that Armand, not Désirée, is mixed-race.
  
• Armand knows La Blanche’s lineage and that she has black blood, thus making her a slave. However, he does not know Désirée’s lineage. In this equation, the darker skinned individual becomes the “master,” thus flipping the hierarchy that once placed the darker individual below the lighter skinned.
• In this way, Chopin challenges us as readers to think about the meaning of race, and she ultimately leads us to the conclusion that it is not biological but rather socially constructed.