Desiree's Baby

Question 1

Desiree’s Baby: Author

Answer 1

Kate Chopin

Question 2

Where does Desiree live?

Answer 2

L’Abri

Question 3

Who is visiting Desiree?

Answer 3

Madame Valmonde

Question 4

Who is Desiree’s husband?

Answer 4

Armand Aubigny

Question 5

Who is the nurse?

Answer 5

Zandrine

Question 6

Desiree’s Baby: Summary

Answer 6

A young couple in the Antebellum South is overjoyed at the birth of their first child, until they realize that the child is not white. The mother drowns herself and the child after being accused of not being white, but after her death, her husband learns that it is he who is only half-white.

Question 7

Desiree’s Baby: Year

Answer 7

1894

Question 8

Desiree’s Baby: Setting

Answer 8

Creole Louisiana, Antebellum South

Question 9

Desiree’s Baby: Foreshadowing

Answer 9

• Everybody seems to realize that the baby isn’t white before Desiree does. Madame Valmonde exclaims “This is not the baby!”, and during her conversation with Desiree she “never removed her eyes from the child”, looked at it in the brightest light, and states vaguely that the baby has changed.
• In addition to the previous example, Desiree starts to notice that there is a weird air about everybody – unexpected visitors, Armand’s anger and avoidance, etc.
• Armand is described as having a “dark, handsome face”, and Desiree points out in her panic: “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand”
• Desiree calls her baby “cochon de lait”, which means suckling pig and literally translates to “pig of milk”, milk = white

Question 10

Desiree’s Baby: Imagery

Answer 10

• Tactile: When Desiree realizes that her baby is not white, “the blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face.”
• Lots of black-and-white imagery. For instance: “she was like a stone image: silent, white, motionless”, lots of shadows (like Desiree being found “asleep in the shadow of the big stone pillar”), she wore a white garment, etc.
• Visual imagery that contributes to the mood: “She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did not come back again.” - contributes to the heavy mood

Question 11

Desiree’s Baby: Diction

Answer 11

• Intermingling of French vocabulary brings attention to the setting, which has some relevance to the plot, since Creole Louisiana was not a good place to be black: “Mais si, Madame”, “the little cochon de lait”