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Desirees Baby

SIGNIFICANCES OF A LETTER "Désirée's Baby" is a
story of love, prejudice and rejection, a story with noble
beginnings that slowly turns to reveal an uglier side of human
relations. Armand, a wealthy landowner of the plantation
L'Abri in the ante-bellum south of Louisiana, is confronted
by a family secret that has been hidden from him, even into
adulthood. The secret is scandalous 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
written 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 are very important to the status of a family
and their social placement, so the "purity" of the family must
be kept. This "purity" does not accommodate marriages of
mixed race. Knowing this, Armand marries an old friend
who he had known since he was eight when he moved to
Louisiana from France with his father after his mother had
died. She was a girl of no distinction, who had no history or
reputation of family name like 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 give her one of the oldest and proudest
in Louisiana." (316). Tragedy comes early in the marriage
with the birth of their first child. Although no one seemed to
notice at first, by the time the child was three months old,
neighbors and Armand hims! elf noticed a change in the
child. "When the baby was about three months old, Désirée
awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in
the air menacing her peace."(317). It turns out the baby is of
mixed blood and...