WEEK 2, QUESTION 3

Kate Chopin, in "Desiree's Baby" comments on how the baby affected and changed the marriage by pointing out how Armand, the father has changed after three months of their son's birth. Chopin express the change by stating, "He absented himself from home;and when there, avoided her presence and that of her child without excuse...Desiree was miserable enough to die." The reason the birth of their child has dramatically affected and changed their marriage was because Armand was prejudice and felt that his wife who he dearly loved in the beginning and the child that was born unto his name brought shame upon his family later in their marriage. When Desiree asked Armand to look at the baby, he responded "that the child is not white; it means that you are not white." He was cruel toward the woman that loved him with all her heart. Aramand had a nerve to trade his wife, and their precious baby boy because of the "unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name." It was his loss and in my strong opinion, Armand never had the right to deserve her in the first place. After Desiree left with her child to live with Madam Valmonde, that Armand read a letter from his own mother written to his father which stated, "Night and day, I thank good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery." I believe that after reading that after Armand read that, he was astonished and it was like a strike in his face. This mistake of letting his wife and the baby go would forever change his life, unless he really confesses his love toward both of them and opologizing for his mistake. Only after their forgiveness would he be able to live a normal, and a happy life.