Desiree's Baby

“Désirée’s Baby” begins almost like a fairy tale, with a visit from Madame Valmondé to her daughter and new grandchild on a “pleasant” (Paragraph 1) day. The story of Désirée’s being found at the gates of the Valmondé estate, as well as the story of how Armand Aubigny fell in love with her merely by laying eyes on her as she lingered by those same gates 18 years later, is also reminiscent of a fairy tale. “Désirée’s Baby,” however, is not a fairy tale, and Désirée’s mysterious origins and lightning-fast engagement are not the precursors to a “happily ever after” ending. Désirée’s inability to establish her ancestry is the very seed of her downfall.

Chopin uses foreshadowing throughout the story to create the foreboding sense that something dark is looming. Madame Valmondé’s reaction to L’Abri is one instance of foreshadowing: “she shuddered at the first sight of it, as she always did” (Paragraph 6). Her perception of the place is influenced by its not having “the gentle presence of a mistress” (Paragraph 6), and here, the reader learns the crucial detail of Armand Aubigny's mother having lived and died in France—a fact which seems like backstory but actually contains the secret upon which the ending of the story turns.