Victims of Chauvinism in Dsires Baby by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Perkins - Essay Example

?Charlet M. Chavez Oishi English 255 15 November Victims of Chauvinism “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are two short stories with almost a similar tone. Both the stories deal with the miseries of women with respect to the racial and gender chauvinism. The main female characters of both the stories fall victims to different types of chauvinism; in ”Desiree’s Baby” to racial chauvinism while in “The Yellow Wallpaper” to the gender chauvinism. Dramatic irony appears when both the stories inflict mental injuries to the wives in a specific society. Husbands in both the stories are so strongly bound by their prejudiced beliefs that they unwittingly produce grounds for the termination of their own marriage contracts. The authors have ironically portrayed the conditions of wife in the institution of marriage of those times. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” seems desperate to obey her husband but the ill-treatment compels her to be equally desperate to be able to speak her mind. Desiree wants the happiness of her husband at any cost and even ruins her own life for the purpose. Hers is a story of sacrifice full of tragedies. The women in “Desiree’s Baby” is portrayed as a seeker for spiritual and sexual freedom amongst the restrictive traditions of the nineteenth century society of the south. Besides the racial issues, the author has successfully explained how the people thought during that period. The story is full of symbolisms, ironies and themes though very short. Irony however composes most part of the story. Obviously, the story has aimed at identifying racial issues inside society. Armond’s racial chauvinism led him to expel Desiree and her child. Desiree was found abandoned by plantation owner Monsieur Valmonde and Madame Valmonde raised her as her own and she grew to be “beautiful and gentle”, very much loved (Chopin 279). Author Kate Chopin initially sets up Monsieur Armand Aubigny as a love struck and generous man. In spite of Desiree’s lack of name, Armand claimed he did not care, that he could give her “one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana” (Chopin 279). During Madame Valmonde’s visit with Desiree to see the new baby, Desiree discloses the true character of Armond and the way Desiree expresses it is heart-touching. She is aware of her and child’s fate and her words reflect a longing for Armond’s love and care: “Oh, Armand is the proudest father in the parish, I believe, chiefly because it is a boy, to bear his name: thou he says not, --- that he would have loved a girl as well. But I know it isn’t true. I know he says that to please me. And mamma,” she added, drawing Madame Valmonde’s head down to her and speaking in a whisper, “he hasn’t punished one of them --- since baby is born. Even Negrillon, who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work --- he only laughed, and said Negrillon was a great scamp. Oh mamma, I’m so happy; it frightens me.”(Chopin 280) Racial bias has the power to destroy everything associated with the mutual relationships of humans. This fact is revealed in the “Desiree’s Baby” when after Desiree gives birth to a child, everything changes for her. Armond becomes rude and unfriendly towards her and she finds no reasons for her own satisfaction of the situation nor she could ask her husband for his changed approach towards her: “An air of mystery among the blacks” (Chopin 280), and unexpected visitors from far away neighbors, all of which she was afraid to ask Armand to explain (Chopin 280). The chauvinism was operative to such an extent that Armond completely forgot his past love for his wife. The change in Armand was worse; he would no longer look at her and avoided home whenever possible. When he was home he avoided being around her and her child (Chopin 281). The racial chauvinism comes out very strong in Armand’s reaction to Desiree’s confrontation and finally Desiree finds out that the reason behind the emergency was that their child was not fully white (Chopin 281). Armond’s prejudice has closed his heart on his beloved Desiree. Desiree is heartbroken and writes a letter to Madame Valmonde telling her of the events who in turn tells her daughter to come home to her mother who loves her and to bring her child (Chopin 281). This is where Armand is given one last chance to see past his racial bias. But Desiree has yet to see his misfortunes on the row as the chauvinism is such a strong thing to play its role even among the spouses. Desiree shows him the letter and asks him if she should go. “Yes, go” “Do you want me to go?” “Yes, I want you to go” (Chopin 282). It was their final exchange. Desiree does not go home to her mother. Shattered in grief, she retrieved her child from the servant. Clad in a thin white garment and slippers only, she walked across a deserted field and into the sluggish bayou and did not return (Chopin 282). A very sad irony is revealed at the end of the story. Armand rids himself of all memories associated with Desiree and her child in a large bonfire in the courtyard, a partial letter from his mother is found stating how grateful she was that God arranged their lives so that Armand would never know she was of the race of slaves (Chopin 282). Gender chauvinism is equally destructive for the mutual relationships of humans even if inside a family. Gender chauvinism is often specific for family matters and the history shows that it has been the basic reason behind chaos produced inside a family. The fact is revealed in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” when a husband’s complex of his superiority over his wife becomes the primary reason of creating disturbance in the marital life. Gender chauvinism is reflected so emphatically that the women are conveyed the message of the fatality of marriage. Despite treating his wife with love and allowing her to lead a normal life with her newly born child, she was confined for taking so called rest as to recover from her disease. Her husband John is a physician, and as she describes “perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Gilman 462). This is pointed out due to John viewing his wife as merely having a “temporary nervous depression --- a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 462) and not her really being ill as she herself feels. They are taking their summer break in an old run down colonial mansion for the wife’s health and recovery. John makes all the decisions as to her well-being, to include taking a room upstairs that might once have served as a nursery. This is a large room with many windows and wallpapers. The narrator’s initial description of this wallpaper clues the reader into the effect it truly has on her: “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide --- plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions. The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Gilman 463). Her husband is however unmoved by her critical conditions. He did not allow her move out of the room nor did he replace the offending wallpaper (Gilman 464). Despite of John’s treatment, the tone of the narrator climbs offensive with every passing day becoming obsessed with the patterns in the wallpaper. She spends her entire day tracing those patterns, the smudges, and flaws in the layout. Gender chauvinism again comes into action when she longs for company and stimulation but John insists that she could not handle it. She was informed that if she didn’t get recovered faster, she would be sent to a Weir Mitchell renowned for his “rest cures” for nervous disorders (Gilman 466). Gender bias was compelling her to withdraw from the life of reality and form a new world of her own i.e. with her companions on the wallpaper. It is an irony of the society where the women are held scornful. John is given one last chance to truly listen to his failing wife. One night as she was staring at the wallpaper and got up to see if it was moving, he caught her doing so, and she wished that they could just leave now as she wasn’t getting any better. He dismissed her saying, “Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know” (Gilman 468). John is blinded by his chauvinism and doesn’t see it coming. On the last day of their stay in the old mansion, the narrator, holding to the belief that there is a woman trapped in the wallpaper and it is her duty to free her, locks herself in the room and tears frantically at the wallpaper. John gains access to the room and is overcome with disbelief; the all-knowing doctor didn’t know after all (Gilman 473). The dramatic irony has been used extensively in the story. It is the irony that the all the husband thinks for the welfare of his wife comes out disastrous for her. “Desiree’s Baby” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are purely connected by the authors’ use of dramatic irony and chauvinisms. Armand and John were prejudiced figures with their own styles of expression which caused the tragic ends of the stories. It is irony that Armand was prejudiced against his own blood. In turn, John prejudiced against his wife while considering himself being a male superior to his wife. It is the irony that despite or more precisely because of his best efforts, the narrator lost her mind. The treatment came out dreadful for her. The real issues of the time were thus systematically expressed by dramatic ironies in the two short stories. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby.”The Short Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2010. 279-282. Print. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.”The Short Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2010. 462-473. Print. Read More