Kate Chopin: "A Voice To Be Heard"

Kate Chopin dared to write and voice her opinions in a time where women were not be able to do so. Perhaps she can be called a woman before her time, a woman who wasn’t scared to tell it how it was. After years of negative criticism and her death, Chopin’s literary work began to receive praise. In Hall’s biography of Chopin it is said, “Chopin’s works were reassessed and began to receive serious critical attention in the late 1950's (141).” Chopin has been criticized for her ironic endings that are similar to Maupassant, scorned for voicing opinions of miscegenation, and admired for her local color writing.

As shown in many of Chopin’s works, including Desiree’s Baby, Chopin uses ironic plots to draw her readers in. By making the story have a twist, Chopin takes the reader and makes them believe one thing only to find out that the actual truth is the opposite. “Like many of Chopin’s stories, “Desiree’s Baby” builds to an ironic reversal reminiscent of M...