This week, we read three amazing stories by Kate Chopin. These were definitely my favorite assignments thus far in the class. The one story that really struck me was Desiree's Baby. I have found myself telling people who are not in the class about the story, and have been discussing it with other people who are in the class saying how sad it was to me. Perhaps, being half black and half white myself this story hit close to home. I can easily imagine a time where being 1/4 African could be looked down upon so much, partially because it still happens today. I know that I have been discriminated against, and so have my sisters. While, I'm pretty light to be half black, one of my sisters is a lot darker than me- and I know she's had people come up to her when she's been with my mom and ask if she's adopted. People can be so ignorant, and while most are accepting, it seems like not a lot has changed from the time of Chopin's story.
My mom always tells me stories of when she would be in the doctors office with my two younger sisters and I and people who ask her if all her children had the same father. Strangers! They would just come up to my mom and think it was their business to find out if we all had the same father. It was completely inappropriate and quite offending to my mom. It just goes to show that some people are still obsessed with race.
The story to me just was terrible, because I wanted everything to work out for Desiree. It's crazy of how people judged, and jumped to conclusions. I wish there was a sequel to the story so the readers could find out what Armand Augbigny did when he found out HE was actually the one with "tainted" blood, and that it came from his family- one of the oldest and proudest names in Louisiana.
4 comments:
I have to agree with you on the story of "Desiree's Baby." My own neice is mulatto, but she is still too young yet to be discriminated against or to even understand it. I understand how people used to act but now a days people understand better and embrace it better. I loved the story about Desiree and I know that I want others to read it and sympathize with us becuase what happened in this story is not right.
I really enjoyed reading your post. Your point that discrimination still occurs in much the same way it did at the time Chopin was writing is a very valid one, but as a white person, I feel that sometimes I am unaware of it. Since I do not feel discriminated against and don’t think I discriminate against others, I don’t have that much experience with it in today’s world. Thus, reading your post was a necessary reminder to me that racial issues are far from over.
I too felt very bad for Désirée because not only did she meet with prejudice, but she met with it from her husband, whom she loved deeply and thought loved her. It was a very tragic story, but I suspect that Désirée was not the only one who was ruined. If Désirée being partly black changed Aubigny’s once so intense feelings that he was described as having fallen for Désirée “as if struck by a pistol shot” (301), he probably would have been distraught over finding out that he actually is the one with black ancestry. I think he too may have then committed suicide, especially when he realizes what he had mistakenly driven his wife to do. Aubigny is a very hypocritical character because he previously claimed that he did not care about Désirée’s background. Apparently he only meant that he could overcome income level disparities, if his statement had any validity at all, but African ancestry was evidently unforgivable.
"Desiree's Baby" was a really good story. I love how you related the story to your personal life. It was a really good idea. That is just horrible about people coming up to your mom and asking if you all had the same dad. I hope your mom told them that it should not matter to them. How many people today have ten kids with ten different people, and most people don't bother them. That just proves that they were obsessed with the race of you and your sisters. That is just disturbing.
It kind of makes you wonder when things are going to change. They have been like this for so long, and it still is a touchy subject. There are so many worse things that people should be worried about- like how they are going to feed and clothe their own kids!
I agree with you that to this day race is still an issue with many people. i think that, that is one of the main reasons chopin's pieces are so timeless and will go on to make an impression for much longer. I think that race is still one of the bigger opstacles for our society to get over, which is sad. we have also managed to further the discrimination to other races, genders and sexes. people often look to face value of things rather than actually taking the time to take things in and consider the truth, or the hidden value of what is different from the majority.
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