Desiree's Baby

Amber James
Eng III
“Desiree’s Baby”
P-2
This story consists of a lot of irony. It has a lot of unexpected turns. The audience never knows what to expect next. When u do expect something to happen it goes the exact opposite way.
First the baby changed the father’s life. He was so excited about the baby in the beginning. He was even nice to his slaves which was unusual for him. So for a moment life for them was pretty easy. Then in the matter of 3 months he began to be distant from his wife. She didn’t know what was wrong with him and he gave no effort to let her know. So everything just started to go downhill for them. He didn’t want to be touched nor bothered by her it was as if she irritated him with her presence. Desiree cherished and loved her husband and her baby and she didn’t know what was tearing their family apart.
Then one day Desiree was in the room with the baby and just began to stare at the baby. She thought something was wrong with the baby. She had no idea what it was. So she asked her husband and he told her that their child was not white and she was not white. Desiree argued with him about this subject she even made a point that her skin was whiter than his. Desiree didn’t believe that she was black for one minute she even wrote a letter to her mother asking if it’s true or not. When her mother wrote back she neither denied nor confirmed that it was the truth. So this gives the audience reason to believe that Desiree really was not white. Her mother even foreshadowed this event happening in the beginning of the story by the way she was looking at the baby and when she said,” This is not the baby.” As if it was already something wrong with the baby.
So because the husband believed Desiree had a little bit of black in her this changed all of his feelings for her. They were so in love at first but because she has a drop of black blood in her body he wants nothing to do with her. He even wanted his wife that he “did” love so much and the mother of his child leave and go be with her mother. He was so quick to say the child was black on Desiree’s behalf but never thought that that one drop of black blood could be in his body.
He made a fire outside of the house and had his slaves burning what all belonged to her. Desiree sent him letters and he wouldn’t even respond back, this showed that she still had love for the father of her child. While looking at her letters he discovered a letter from his mother to his father. The letter explains how his mother belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery. So the reason that the baby is not white is because of him. He was the reason the baby was black not his wife. So he treated her wrong for no reason at all and he was the one to blame for it all. This part was at the end of the story and this moment changed the whole story around. The ending left the audience with shock and it was so unexpected. Everybody believed that Desiree was really at fault for the reason the baby was not white no one would of guessed it to be the fathers fault. An ending like this just leaves the audience wanting more and wondering what happens next.