Desiree's Baby

Why do you think Désirée chooses not to go back home to Valmondé, even when her mother invites her? What do you think happens to her and her child after the story ends? What does Chopin intend for the reader to understand about Désirée’s world, that she would choose this ending for herself?

Chopin largely conceals Désirée’s baby from the reader, neglecting to describe him directly but rather using the “little quadroon” (Paragraph 19) boy as a mirror. What is the narrative effect of withholding physical descriptions of the child from the reader? How does this deliberate decision connect to a larger message or theme in the piece?

“Désirée’s Baby” contains several cyclical elements, with repetitions occurring along generational lines. How does Armand Aubigny repeat his father’s cycle, and how does he depart? How does Désirée’s baby’s fate echo Désirée’s origin? What do you think Chopin is trying to achieve by employing these cycles? 

One way to critically read a short story is to examine its beginning and end. What can we learn about the world of the “Désirée’s Baby” from its first sentence? What kind of mood and expectations does it set up? Why does the story start at the moment in time it starts, and why does it end where it does? How does the ending shed light on the beginning?

Though “Désirée’s Baby” does not tell the story of enslaved people, it’s still a story about race-based slavery and segregation. Evaluate how this story speaks to the cruelty of slavery, as well as the unreliable rules for racial classification, by focusing on white-passing characters and by keeping the enslaved characters in the periphery. Is this effective? How so?