Kate Chopin

I thought the three stories by Kate Chopin were very exciting. She wrote about, love, romance, scandal, race, and social class, and her stories were so unpredictable that I didn't know what to expect next. My favorite story by Chopin is called, "Desiree's Baby," because I was so surprised by the ending.
When I first started reading, "Desiree's Baby," I couldn't understand why Desiree was abandoned . The writing said, "The prevailing belief was that she had been purposely left by a party of Texans, whose canvas-covered wagon, late in the day, had crossed the ferry that Coton Mais kept, just below the plantation." I couldn't tell if Chopin was trying to give us the idea that she was left by people who didn't want her, or if possibly, maybe slaves had left her their because she looked white, so they thought she could have a chance at a better way of living if a white family found her and adopted her.
Once Desiree was found by a loving family, it seemed like a fairytale. She was beautiful, in love, wealthy, happy, and pregnant by her husband who was everything to her. But shortly after the baby was born the fairytale started to crumble. I liked when Desirees mother looks at the baby and said in surprise, "This is not the baby," and Desiree just laughed at her reaction and began talking about how much the baby has grown. She didn't even realize that anything was different, she had just thought that her mother was surprised at how much the baby had grown. I think that shows how much Desiree had cared about and loved her child.
When I read the end of the story I was so surprised. I never would have thought that Desiree would take her baby and walk into a body of water, never to be seen again. I believe she did that because her husband meant everything to her, and without his love for her and their child she felt that she had nothing worth living for. She was in shock, and I don't think she fully new what she was doing at that moment because if she was aware, I don't think she would have ended her babys life. She could have reaised her baby at her mothers house, and provided a great life for it just like she had. I was also shocked when I read the last line of the book, "night and day, I thank the 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." That means that Armand was just like Desiree, his mother was black and his father white, but because they were both light skinned they never knew it. Thats why the baby was born so dark. Armand had drove Desiree to her death by making her feel so ashamed of where she had come from, and all along he came from the same place. I wonder if he'll hate himself for what he is, just like he hated his own wife and child for being of mixed race. I still can't understand why he acted that way towards her when he found out that she was of mixed race. If he loved Desiree and his child so much, why wouldn't he let love overcome his feelings of hatred for a different race.
At the end of class on Friday, I heard someone mention that they didn't believe Desiree had one black parent and one white parent, they thought that Armand was the one that caused thier child to be darked skin. I agree with that. In the writting Desiree said, "Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are gray," And my skin tone is fair," "Look at my hand; whiter than yours." I believe that Desiree was the pure one, and it's sad that she had ended her life, along with her child's life, just because of how Armand had made her feel, which was ashamed of herself. I know that Desiree wouldn't even care that her husband was of mixed race, but she was never able to find out the truth.