Themes of Desirees Baby Essay -- essays research papers

Dsires Baby is a story of love, diagonal and rejection, a story with noble beginnings that slowly turns to reveal an uglier side of pitying relations. Armand, a wealthy landowner of the plantation LAbri in the ante-bellum southwestward of Louisiana, is confronted by a family secret that has been hidden from him, even into adulthood. The secret is lurid for its day, and its consequences run deep into the fabric of society. No one told Armand of this secret. He discovers it by chance at the end of the story, when he finds the remnants of an old letter create verb solelyy by his mother to his father, the significance of which, and its revelations, makes us focus on the many tragic and ironic decisions made by him during this story. In the old south, bloodlines ar very important to the status of a family and their social placement, so the morality of the family must be kept. This purity does not accommodate marriages of mixed race. designed this, Armand marries an old friend who h e had known since he was eight when he moved to Louisiana from France with his father after his mother had died. She was a missy of no distinction, who had no history or reputation of family name equivalent that of Armand, but despite this he fell in love as if struck by a pistol shot.(317). Others had warned Armand against marrying her, but he did not care for he was so swept away by her beauty. He was reminded that she was nameless. What did it matter about a name when he could springiness her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana. (316). Tragedy comes early in the marriage with the kindred of their first child. Although no one seemed to notice at first, by the sentence the child was three months old, neighbors and Armand himself noticed a change in the child. W... ...love and so easily discarded to protect his family name, were innocent of his animosity and accusations. We can exclusively imagine the heart wrenching turmoil he must abide felt at that moment. Too, wa s the undeniable fact that his father had overcome correspondent odds and accepted the love of his mother even though she was black. Armands father had escaped from tradition and its shackles to stay with the woman he loved and yet still kept the familys good name, where Armand had failed to do so. The decision of this letter reveals to the reader the deeper consequences of decisions made based on prejudice and what others may think. All that Armand had done, giving up his marriage and condemning their child, burning all that reminded him of her and the baby, cursing God for his misfortune, had all come crashing in upon him by finding a simple letter with tragic significance