Plot in Desiree's Baby

In the letter that Armand reads from his mother, she writes that he “belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.” This reveals that it is actually Armand who has black ancestry, not Désirée. This dramatic plot twist makes the ending of the story, and the story itself, all the more ironic and devastating. More specifically, Armand’s fate is extremely ironic. He has treated his wife and his slaves with violence and cruelty based on the color of their skin, and now he must face the fact that he is actually part-black himself.

While not overtly stated, we can infer from the ominous language that Désirée chooses to kill herself and her child. Notice that the bayou is described as “deep” and “sluggish,” and that Chopin ends the same sentence by stating that “she did not come back again.” This might indicate a kind of cause and effect: the bayou is deep, therefore, she does not return.

As Désirée stares at her baby and La Blanche’s boy, she finally realizes what has been bothering her. Readers will recall Désirée’s mother’s initial cry of “This is not the baby!” and deduce that Désirée’s baby has something in common with La Blanche’s boy. The idea that her son may have black heritage causes her to cry out. Though Désirée faces many difficulties in this society as a woman, her experience has not engendered tolerance or open-mindedness when it comes to matters of race.

At this point in the story, it is still unclear as to why Madame Valmondé reacts this way at the sight of the baby. We can infer from context however, that she is undoubtedly astonished at the baby’s appearance, and seems to think that the baby looks somehow different from Désirée. Désirée, however, only understands her mother’s cry as a sign of the child’s growth since his birth.

Armand’s hasty dismissal of Monsieur Valmondé’s cautions seems to be driven primarily by his overwhelming passion for Désirée, rather than his true lack of concern about her origins.

The narrator relays the rumor that baby Désirée was left on a wagon that was then placed on a ferry to cross some body of water. From this context, we can infer that “Coton Mais” is the name of the person who owns or operates the ferry.