2nd time La Blanche is mentioned EPIPHANY

Her name means white, but she is not racially white only visually.
White= purity, innocence but she is not like that
Her name also means blank or nameless
She is a double to desire
1) Neither have a proper name, just descriptive
2) Linked through their sons
3) Both look white but considered black

Whole society is represented through Armand, everyone is racist, and sexist like him.
(Characteristics of life in the 19th century southern society and relationships at the time
slides)
Linked through their sons
Child becomes therefore a nightmare of desire´s baby
Both visually white but considered black

Simile of how she dies, foreshadowing of her death, silent white motionless of how she dies
The moment that they both realize that Desiree is guilty of their baby´s race

Armand is the icon of devil, compared to Satan. He feels like god has dealt with him unjustly.
By blaming God for having sent this fate to him.

Sinking of the sun: foreshadowing again of how she will sink too
Depiction of nature in a representative way.
Negroes highlight again (not the yellow character’s) reminding of their status and racism in
the story.

She is therefore not equipped for this journey of death, she is still very fragile, outside of
this house or home.
Her hair was uncovered and unprotected, again with these bright colors (vs her identity and
origin)
Implication, she could have taken this path, but she did not (it was her choice)

Ending: she disappears among the reeds. It highlights the origin of the character, she comes
from nothing, and she disappears as well in the shadows, reiterating her beginnings (came
from nowhere and goes nowhere)
She commits serious crimes, suicides, and murder taking her child´s live. Her dissapareance
is not a triumph, she had another choice.
Interpreted by critics as the inability of surviving in the system (it would be controlled by her
husband) eventually disappears and becomes like the blood like ice in the veins, she
becomes at the end like a stone age. These similes as a foreshadow.
All these uncontrollable impulses become reality.

Post story
Her disappearance is hardly a triumph, is she still alive?
Truth will be reminded to Armand when he stands in front of the fire

Big shower is linked to the bright shower, the identity with luxuries are gone.
He tries to clean himself from the memory of his wife and child, symbol of destruction of the
fire. Also related to the fire of slavery.

Indestructible passion of the fire symbol, as when she used to send letters when they were
still married.

Why was she thanking god? Two mothers thanking god for their families, first one is
madame valmondier, with the child adopted
Also armand´s mother for the blessing of her husband love, but mostly the god one who
arranged their lives to not realize that

Ending
Irony 1) reader was expecting Desiree to have caused the mixed race, but at the end tables
turn and it is armand´s fault, style of chopin (way she plays with irony and foreshadowing,
always playing with readers ‘expectations)

Irony 2) another situational irony, a black woman is able to disrupt the system, it is
Armand’s mother who breaks the rules of the system of the time, able to destroy in an
empowerment way his expectations of society.

Did he know about his mixed race?

He did know
-he might have remembered what his mother looked like at 8 years old.
-he might have known as his racism towards his brothers is actually a psycho defense
mechanism in order to deny his relationship with the black race
-he nameless Desiree so that she had a mixed blood, and he could blame her for the baby´s
race, scapegoat role
-Chopin describes her as dark-skinned while she is known to be white
-the husband went to search some papers to prove it,
-he was hiding at the back at the drawer, hiding the only piece of his mother, he hides the
origin of his mother mixed race

He did not know:

Dramatic irony is still ambiguous whether he knew or not, it does not change the fact that
he was a villain, but is it the blame on him or on society? It gives him more poetic justice (his
punishment is living thinking that he is not what he thought he was (reversal of expectations
for readers and characters as dramatic irony from Chopin)
Society brought children up in France where racism was a bigger issue and more protected
or secret.
However, Compared to his father he is the villain since his dad was also a part of society,
there is a choice you can make as an individual to change the status quo.
Also if he had known he would have treated the slaves differently maybe.
Characteristics of the 19th century society
Reputation
Mixed races and miscegenation (no acceptance of mixed races)
Women as source of virtue or charity, more ignorant and dependent
Community based in these values
Not enough with the individual changes, it must be within the society to see some results,
more power
Bloodiness is essential

To live is to be vulnerable, her existence Is very ephemeral and short.

Theme is also motherhood, maybe she was talking about herself and the difficulty about
being a mother, of frighting

Foreshadowing and effects definition

The technique of arranging events and information in a narrative in such a way that later
events are prepared for or anticipated. A well-constructed story will suggest at the
beginning the outcome of it, giving the story a thematic and structural unity.
The effects are: suspense, expectations, reasonability and inevitability (convicing the reader
of the inevitable outcome of the story)
-When she describes armand
Images of comparison and similes to the way he falls in love with her, nature playing this
role of representation of the individual
-When madame v tells that was not the child
Threat in the air from the unexpected visit from the neighbors
Foreshadowing towards the end
-Color yellow and description of the house, secrecy and all this stuff.

Style of Chopin vs Hemingway

Instead of objective 3rd person narration she uses omission (you are told inner thoughts of
all characters) and over the shoulder (only focused on what one person sees)

Use of the negative to reveal society vs the individual

Similes, metaphors, firgutative language

Double relation between charcaters

Use of space