Let me begin by noting that answering this question was difficult for me. You’re either writing from your own biases or stereotypes when writing from the perspective of another race. A writer can write about what he or she observes, but not about the feelings and thoughts of the person. The reading “Desiree’s Baby”, is an insightful commentary on race. However, the author, Kate Chopin, is unable to fully comprehend the feelings of a person sentenced to slavery, as well as the experiences of black people. Kate Chopin, a white woman whose family owned slaves at the time, used her writing to challenge social standards and address racial concerns. If a white writer is willing to research and get information about the black experience in order to reach an audience, then, isn’t that okay? However, she was not personally affected by the problems that people of color faced. I do not feel that those who are not members of the group should be given greater weight than those who are. I believe that everyone, regardless of ethnic origin, should use their voice to combat racial inequity.
Chopin
Alternate Ending
“But above all,” she wrote, “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.” Armand’s hands shake violently as he crumples the letter and slams his fist on to the cabinet. Sweating and pale Armand walks toward the fire while bumping into the workers adding to the fire. His eyes were lifeless as he steps closer and closer to the fire the embers almost singeing the hair on his eye brows. He reaches his hand out and tosses the letter in letting the fire burn his finger. The workers continue on…
Armand showed that he would shun his wife and kids over this, I decided to make Armand even more selfish where in this tragedy he sees opportunity to keep his pride and social standing since the problem dealt with itself and the evidence is in the pyre. Good luck to him if he tries to have kids again.
Chopin Street Cred
Being upset at Kate Chopin being a white woman writing about racism is understandable, I think there’s a place for all perspectives in literature. This isn’t like an influencer post on Instagram. Even if the race of the writer has nothing to do with the topic I think it’s okay for them to write about it as long as you check their background and decide whether you like what you’re reading or not. I think because of her family history and marital status it makes her perspective and interesting one.
Chopin
In the spirit of global and equality acceptance, we would want to state unequivocally that a writer’s race is irrelevant. That assertion, however, is incorrect and denigrates any culture other than white. The race is important to creatives. We take what we know from experience and have been through and memorialize that experience because we live in a world where race labels everything, including dialect/language, food, music, gun control, clothing, vehicles, and city limits, race matters. Because culture tells us that our skin is an experience, race counts. Maybe if we lived in a world without race, it would not matter what race a writer was; you would be a writer.
For example, if a writer says, “I want to be a poet—not a black poet,” it is not because he wants to be white or does not want to write for his people. It implies that he does not want to be defined by his skin. However, some people exclusively write for their people, which does not define you (solely) as a writer. Race is a humanized concept that stems from people’s inability to see different ethnicities as anything other than distinct. Is it true that one race of people cannot understand another? We still believe that if we do not comprehend someone, they must be of a different race.
Black people do not have the same history as white people; they were pulled from their routines and thrown into a culture that treated them like farm dogs. As time passed and black people were born and nurtured in America, they were no longer taught their culture’s “traditional traditions” ( David 756). They were also socialized to learn the ways of the White Man. And when we conform to White Man’s ways, we allow ourselves to become blind. Whitewashing is a genuine issue in modern-day America. Schools are whitewashing our children by withholding black history. However, some progress has been made by forming Black History Month.
Not talking about race and rejecting the matter entirely is the same as claiming that cultural perspective is unimportant in creative writing. When, in truth, writers frequently draw on personal experience. Some of the best stories reflect emotional truths, stories that are either directly or indirectly representative of our circumstances (David 755). It would be a disservice to literary honesty if we did not discuss how our cultural experiences influence our writing. Even in the categories of fiction or speculative fiction, some universal human themes can be found. Therefore I believe Kate Chopin’s story left out so much black person’s perspective in the story. If we truly want to unite as artists and as humans, we must begin to discuss race and its impact on our culture.
Works’ cited
Asai, David J. “Race matters.” Cell 181.4 (2020): 754-757.
Chopin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby.” (2021).
Armand
My alternate ending to Désirée’s Baby will maintain Chopin’s mesmerizing charm. My alternate ending delves into Armand’s feelings and thoughts. Chopin did not investigate Armand’s thoughts in the original story, nor did she communicate orally what Armand was feeling. That was something I wanted to change. After reading his mother’s letter, I was curious to know how Armand felt. The final sentence of Chopin’s original story felt like a finale to a continuing story to me ( Kate 6). Armand will express himself by writing letters to Désirée while observing his thoughts and feelings in my rendition. These letters will provide readers with a deeper personal connection to Armand. For instance, I will connect the two parts using the following sentences; Armand stood in the hallway, stunned, reading and rereading the final sentences of his mother’s letter to his father. Sentiments of bitterness against his mother and father, regret towards his wife, and, most importantly, feelings of self-hatred emerged in him.” Being a Negro is the worst thing that can happen to me,” he told himself. Why did God punish me with this race? My mother wouldn’t want to be this, so why should I?” Armand entered his bedroom and shut the door.
In my version, Armand also commits himself since Chopin mentioned through the characters how horrible it was to be of African origin, and I wanted to play on that. I brought Armand’s mother back to America to make the plot less predictable. Love compels you to do things you would never do otherwise. It forced Armand’s obstinate mother to move to America in this circumstance. I considered detailing her death back in France, but I decided to leave it out since my alternate ending was extensive and explanatory. Désirée’s Baby was already a fantastic tale. Chopin, I believe, left the conclusion the way she did so that readers like me may build our endings of what occurs afterward. My alternate ending not only created a distinct point of view but also included several plot twists. Therefore, I would like to end with the following sentences; Désirée was finally able to return to L’Abri two years after accepting Armand’s death. They spent the remainder of their life there with enslaved people, but the enslaved people were considered family. Désirée’s baby was around thirteen years old when she allowed him to read the letter Armand had written to her before committing suicide. The son grew up just like his father intended him to and was proud to be a Negro.
Chopin
I feel like the race of the author does matter especially coming from Kate Chopin who was a white woman living in the 1890s when racism was pretty bad. She has probably never dealt with racism and doesn’t know first hand what it feels like to go what African Americans go through with racism. I feel that the story would be more credible coming from an author who has went through racism and knows what it feels like. She might talk to people who go through racism and try to understand but she would never really know how it feels first hand because she is white. I feel that it is important that whenever we do get a narrative dealing with racism and oppression that we get it from someone that knows what its like to go through it because that way it would be more honest and authentic.
Armand
Armand soon finds the letter. He reads the letter and he drops the letter and starts to stumble in disbelief. He then just has a mix of emotions not knowing what to think and how his wife and son are dead. He starts to think about his whole life is possibly a lie. He looks out into the field and starts to cry because he realizes that the reason that his wife and son is dead is because of him. He asks himself “What have I done?”. Armand goes into depression and he later goes and kills himself because of what he was feeling.
Race and Narrative
by Deborah Adekoya
Personally, I feel like race doesn’t matter when writing a narrative based on racism. It’s the same way you can have any type of teacher teach about racism or colonization. As long as the writer or teacher is respectable and doesn’t cross the line as someone whose ancestors did wrong most especially. I believe Chopin was very respectful in her delivery, we see on pages 1- 3 that Chopin utilizes the word “negros.” Which is risky but still respectful as it wasn’t the actual N-word. At the same time, I wonder why Chopin decides to write stories about racism, not just that but she also made the black character the antagonist and the white character the one we feel sorry for. This isn’t something that usually occurs in a racism narrative.
Chopin- my ending
Deborah Adekoya
Armand read the letter that he had kept a secret all these years. He thinks back to when he first read the letter, right about when Desiree had shared the news of her pregnancy with him. He knew he had to do something, but he didn’t know what that something would be. If people found out Armand was black he didn’t know what they’d do, his business, status, and family’s life were on the line. So he hid the letter from everyone including Desiree, whom he loved. As he reads over the same letter that ruined his life, he starts to ponder on what exactly led him to do what he did to Desiree. He remembers how heard the town gossip. The word in the street said Desiree cheated on Armand with a negro. Armand knew that this wasn’t true but he still decided to use this as his scapegoat even if it meant he wouldn’t see his only love and son forever. As the letter sits in his grip, anger begins to flood him, he wishes he could do something but it’s too late. He burns the letter and he spends the rest of his life trying to fill the hole Desiree and his only son left in his heart.
Chopin
The writer’s race matters when the narrative deals with race because there is only so much that can go into a narrative about such a topic that a white woman in the 1890s like Kate Chopin, would never be able to fully understand and experience herself. It would be more important and more credible for the narrative to come from someone who actually experiences racism, not benefited from it. By coming from a family of slave owners, and marrying someone in the cotton industry Chopin may be able to see the oppression and racism firsthand, but there is always bias because Chopin was never the receiver of the racism. I believe that Chopin writing about the struggles of African Americans in the 1890s was advantageous to the extent that it was competing with social norms at the time. However, the white savior narrative is overused, the truth is behind the people who actually struggled with racism and slavery. The U.S has a long history of telling the story of racism from a white perspective, and it would make more sense for the stories of African American slavery to come from African Americans.
Chopin
I believe that writing about racism is more about writing about the issues. Race is a multi-faceted concept encapsulating culture, history and more to a person which is something that cannot be empathized without their own experience. A white women in the 1890’s, while being able to understand prejudice and oppressions, would not be able to understand how it feels to be an African-American women in the 1890’s; their stories may contain similar chapters but speak wholly different volumes of words.
