The Conflict Of Miscegenation In Desiree's Baby By Kate Chopin And The Wife Of His Youth By Charles Chestnutt

Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio entered the union as free states. During the early 19th century, white citizens of those states demanded laws and regulations against the rights of black people traveling through their or wanting to settle down in their territories. In consequence, those regulations illegalized the hold of property, the conclusion of contracts, or the settlement in specific states for black people. Virginia introduced a law that labeled a person as black, even if they had just one black ancestor. Referring to this law, people whose genealogy was less than 0. 25 black were seen as white. If the genealogy was unclear, a jury decided whether or not this person was seen as black or white. In 1804, Ohio released one of the first laws against the immigration of freed slaves. Illinois followed the state of Ohio by illegalizing the settlement of free black settlers in 1813. The more successful the pro-abolition of slavery, by the establishment of the underground railroad, for example, the more people joined the white negrophobes of the north. Indiana passed a law against miscegenation in 1845: so did multiple states during the 1840's.

The term of miscegenation was most commonly represented with white men and female black slaves, as shown in the short story “Desiree's Baby” by Kate Chopin, which is about the difficulties of having an offspring as an interracial couple. Armand, a Louisianian slave owner, marries Desiree, who was adopted and whose biological origin is unknown. They have a child whose skin tone appears to be black, which was a red flag during the civil war period. Armand is shocked and blames Desiree for having a black child, although he has darker skin than Desiree. It seems like Armand is not comfortable with having a black child, which leads him to avoid both, Desiree and the “black” child. He doesn't even try to explain why he is not present at home. The only thing Armand cares about is his social status and how society thinks of him. This is the reason why Armand chooses to get rid of Desiree and the baby since it was too big of a risk for ruining his high-class status in society.

Another short story that addresses the conflict of miscegenation is Charles Chestnutt's “The Wife of His Youth”. The main character, Mr. Ryder is a light-skinned member of the Blue Vein society. Clearly, he achieved high social status by joining this high society, having a high-position status at his job for the railroad company, and by having a highly educated woman, named Mrs. Dixon, by his side whom he wants to ask to marry him. Ryder sees whiteness as a status symbol and something to aim for, which you can also tell by his so-called “white” accent. Mrs. Dixon is the perfect match for him since he fits in the Blue Vein Society perfectly. The plot changes as he meets Liza Jane, a former slave, in search of her long-lost husband, who happens to be Mr. Ryder, she married as a slave. Liza helped Sam to escape slavery, and he promised her to come back and find her. As you can see, there is also a conflict between Mr. Ryder's old and new self. Mr. Ryder's old self is represented by Liza Jane and the past they had together. His past has outrun him and now the new and completely different man he has become gets confronted with his old identity; the identity of a former slave, who would have never fit in this high-class white society without the help of Liza Jane.

Both, Mr. Ryder and Armand have part black part European ancestry, but their mixed skin passes white. As opposed to Mr. Ryder, Armand doesn't know his mother, and thus he doesn't know that his white father married a black woman. Due to this uncertainty, Armand sees himself as white, even though his skin color is darker than Desiree's. Armand seems to fully adapt to white society, which conveys in his suppressive behavior towards black people, and even his own wife. The false certainty that Desiree is part black makes him push Desiree and his baby away. In Addition, Armand even sees his marriage and the resulting baby as a punishment from God: “He thought Almighty God had dealt cruelly and unjustly with him”. Armand doesn't waste much thought on the possibility that he could be the reason why the baby's skin turned black, which emphasizes his narrow-mindedness. It is possible that the thought had crossed his mind for a short period of time, but Chopin makes no mention of it. It can be assumed that Armand pushes this though away, since he does not want to lose his position in high-class society, for which he has worked so hard. Mr. Ryder shows reconciliation with his old self and acknowledges it by introducing Liza Jane to the Blue Vein Society, even though one would not expect this outcome at first. After showing him the picture of Sam, Mr. Ryder realizes his old self in this picture, and sends her away by saying to not having any clue about who this man is. Instead of proposing to Mrs. Dixon, he passively asks the audience what he should do and whether or not he should acknowledge the woman.

Clangorously, the audience agrees with Mr. Ryder; Mrs. Dixon is even the first person to raise her voice and say: “He should have acknowledged her. ”, which leads him to drop the bomb an introduce Liza Jane to the Blue Vein society. This is a big step for him, since Liza Jane is anything but a fitting member for the Blue Vein Society. This move shows that he no longer wanted to suppress his old identity to fit in. He makes the decision to be true to himself, and to free himself from miscegenation and racial stereotypes. Mr. Ryder is ready to take a risk and includes her in his new life, which is the type of behavior one wishes Armand to fulfill. Thinking about the development both characters go through, the behaviors of both the characters can be seen as a result of miscegenation. Mr. Ryder tries to get his life together in white-dominated society, which leads him to consciously assimilate to the norms and standards of white, high-class society and becoming a member of the Blue Vein Society. This step makes it possible for him to live a life every African American citizen could only wish for. His mindset about race reads as follows: “ 'I have no race prejudice', he would say, 'but we people of mixed blood are ground between the upper and the nether millstone. Our fate lies in between absorption by the white race and extinction in the black (…). '” In theory, Mr. Ryder is stating the principle of natural selection, which means to him that light skinned people have a higher status than those of darker color. Following this statement, members of the Blue Vein society should only get married to another member of the Blue Vein society. He even undergirds this by saying that getting accepted into black society would be a regression for the Blue vein society, instead of a progression. Mr. Ryder's new self is full of racial prejudice and, which biases his whole life and the way he sees people outside the Blue Vein society. The fact that Mr. Ryder completely blanks out the existence of his old wife Liza Jane indicates that his character has changed in the negative direction, in the sense of thinking like a “white” person and holding the opinion that one is better than the people considered to be black, which indicates an egoistic way of thinking.

As opposed to Mr. Ryder, Armand unconsciously assimilates to high-class society, since he thinks that he a real member of the white society concerning the ancestry of his father. His mindset is fixed and he is not willing to give members of the lower class a chance. As I already mentioned, it is possible that Armand thought about his ancestry before, as it is obvious that his skin color is darker than supposedly black Desiree. Those thoughts, however don't last long due to his ego and high status he has achieved as a slave owner. In addition, coming out as a member of black society as a slave owner would be a reflection on his character. He gets deeply enmeshed in the stereotypical social norms which results in him thinking of himself as a white member of society, even though part of him might be aware of his bi-racial origin. Even Desiree is trying to disprove Armand's assertions: “Look at my hair, it is brown; and my eyes are grey And my skin is fair”. Armand, however, sticks to his convictions and abandons his relationship with her, whereupon Desiree takes her life and that of the child. The injured feelings of honor of a “white” man have a destructive effect on three lives in this story. When Armand finds the old letters of his mother, one can notice that her mother did not want him to find out about her origin, by writing: “I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery. ” Those words are very harsh and show the extend to which the laws of miscegenation, racism, and slavery influenced the way of thinking of black people. Even black people believe that their race is cursed, which emphasizes that racism not only acts upon white people, but black people themselves. But did Armand's mother really want to have a child like Armand, abandoning his own family?

In conclusion, both characters are victims of the stereotypes concerning racism and miscegenation, which reflects on their behavior and mindset. Mr. Ryder has the chance to reflect on his past, which makes him realize that he is still the same person as he was 25 years ago; he just suppressed his old self in order to live a better life. Armand got to know the truth when it was too late for him to make a change; Desiree and the Baby are both gone, because he abandoned his own family just because of the baby's skin color and the assumption that Desiree must be bi-racial.