Friday, March 4, 2016

What lesson we can learn from the story of "Desiree's Baby"?

I think this short story teaches how destructive prejudice
can be. Armand was deeply in love with Desiree, telling her that her uncertain ethinic
roots did not make any difference to him. Ah, but he did not consider that she might
have some Black blood in her. When their baby is born and the child is obviously of
mixed race, he automatically assumes that it is from HER side, not his. After all, he is
a blueblood, an aristocrat. His racial prejudices are so strong and his pridefulness in
his own bloodlines so deep, that he lets the child, the symbol of race, destroy what is
beautiful, his love for Desiree.


The great irony of the
story is that the mixed race comes from HIS family, not hers. So in the end, he loses
everything; his wife, his baby and his cultural pride.

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