Sunday, August 23, 2015

How did Armand react to the letter from his mother?

In Kate Chopin's story, "Desiree's Baby," she tells the tale of Desiree, a woman of unknown origin, who marries a man of good family name and has a baby. Because the child eventually shows signs of black heritage, the husband, Armand, blames Desiree and says she must have black heritage since no one knows where she came from. The final scene of the story shows Armand finding and reading a letter his mother wrote to...

In Kate Chopin's story, "Desiree's Baby," she tells the tale of Desiree, a woman of unknown origin, who marries a man of good family name and has a baby. Because the child eventually shows signs of black heritage, the husband, Armand, blames Desiree and says she must have black heritage since no one knows where she came from. The final scene of the story shows Armand finding and reading a letter his mother wrote to his father admitting that she was black, thus making Armand the one who has black heritage, not Desiree. 


Chopin ends the story there. The reader does not get to see Armand's reaction to this information. We can assume he acted one of two ways. He might have felt badly and regretted blaming his wife and sending her and his child away. On the other hand, he, being the proud man he was, might have burned the letter and told no one of this information. Chopin leaves Armand's reaction up to the reader. Textual clues from the story can support either possible reaction. This type of ending is a trademark for Chopin--she often writes a shocking ending and leaves some of the details off so there might be an open interpretation. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action of "One Thousand Dollars"?

Exposition A "decidedly amused" Bobby Gillian leaves the offices of Tolman & Sharp where he is given an envelope containing $1...