The Pharmaceutical Witchhunt

That’s Funny and Twisted at the Same Time.

Steve

The story of “Desiree’s Baby”, although short compared to those of A Comedy of Errors by the likes of William Shakespeare, serves as a basic recipe for the modern tragic comedy.

The cultural setting and era in which the story takes place in is that of southern aristocracy. Family and racial ties along with land holdings is of great importance to an individual in the community, as it is also just as important to marry within their own social class, which also implies that marriages cannot be racially mixed. The relationship between Desiree and Armand was depicted as one that seemed to have been written in the stars or by beneficent Providence(1). This would make perfect sense in the context that both were considered orphans or abandoned at an early stage in their lives as if searching for the family that would give them unconditional love over the stigma of being what is considered a “mongrel child” as the old term was coined. Desiree’s nature is a bit of a mystery and stays that way for the entire story. But as she becomes the “idol of Valmonde”, it seems that there is an air of naivetÐ"© to her character that is suggested by the narrator that “Desiree was little more than a baby herself;” (1), yet having a child at the age of twenty in this age was nothing new.

The factor that is Desiree’s ignorance now becomes intermingled with the circumstances of her cultural surroundings in the next scene. Madame Valmonde, Desiree’s adopted mother, visits L’Abri to meet her grandson for the first time. Desiree’s character is in the state that every new mother is, absolutely elated with all the attention and prestige that has came to her in the parish. Upon seeing the child, the Madame exclaims, “That is not the baby!” implying that something has changed in a negative way that could be the characteristics a black child. Desiree, in her ignorant nature laughs, “I knew you would be astonished,” (2) completely oblivious to the urgency of the situation. She has interpreted it as rouse to emphasize the rapid growth of the child.

This misunderstanding between the two sets up the next scene in which adds a bit of mystery to whether Desiree had been faithful to Armand. Armand has described as a character that is very typical of a southern male, aristocratic, brutally racist and cruel towards his slaves. At the beginning of the story, it appears that his nature has taken a turn for the better as Desiree remarks that he “hasn’t punished one of them-not one of them-since baby was born (sic). (3) Negrillon, a slave, has even been regarded as “a great scamp” by Armand which could imply that there is a degree of trust between the master and his slaves, one that could lead infidelity. But that is simply a front to what the reader could interpret as an investigation by Armand to determine who could be the real father, as there is now “an air of mystery among the blacks.” (3)

Desiree’s mood becomes a bit suicidal as she is now becoming aware of the situation and Armand’s change in attitude towards her and the baby. The story now takes an abrupt and unexpected turn as Armand accuses Desiree of not being white, yet at