Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin: Is it a good short story?

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Jack Warder

Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin: Is it a good short story?

It is essential in a successful short story that the scene should be set briefly and effectively, and that character should be quickly demonstrated, since this genre does not have the same time scale as a novel.

This short story is narrated in the third person, and written in chronological order, apart from one flash back telling of the death of old Monsieur Abigny’s wife. It is set in the plantations of Louisiana .U.S. in the nineteenth century, and is about two families, who are French speaking plantation owners, their children and their grandchild, and the slaves they employ, as was customary  in those days.

 Desiree, the principal character in the story, was found abandoned as a toddler by Monsieur Valmonde and brought up by his wife as their own, Madame Valmonde being childless. Thus we know from the very beginning of the story that nothing is known of Desiree’s origins.

Kate Chopin, the American  nineteenth century writer, has a very distinctive voice, and a clear attitude to events and characters. She depicts Madam Valmonde as a person who perhaps doesn’t really want to know the truth, as in the third paragraph she

        “Abandoned every speculation”

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about the origin of Desiree, and again when she sees the skin colour of the child, but says nothing.. You get the immediate impression from the writer of pity for this sad woman.

 Desiree grew up and married a nearby plantation owner’s son. In turn they had a son of their own. But this is where the intrigue of the story begins because of the dissimilarity of the skin colour of the child to their own. The father of the child, Armand Aubigny, accused his wife of not being white, and as no-one knew of Desiree’s origin, his ...

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