Desiree's Baby

Situational irony in a story describes a set of circumstances where the opposite of what appears to be happening, is happening. In “Désirée’s Baby,” Armand’s discovery that his own mother was mixed-race, and not Désirée’s—shortly after he banishes her for this very thing—is an example of situational irony.

Irony is also a figure of speech that describes when words are used to mean something different from what they actually mean. The name of Armand’s house is an example of this: “L’Abri” means “shelter” in French. This is ironic because, for an exiled Désirée, L’Abri becomes the opposite of a shelter, and for the enslaved people who can’t leave, L’Abri is a kind of prison. Désirée’s own name is also an example of irony: “desirée” means “desired” in French, but both her birth parents and her husband reject her, rendering her name ironic.

Foreshadowing is the purposeful inclusion of hints by the author as to what’s coming. It allows readers to form an expectation and to feel a sense of suspense or tension in knowing, or suspecting, what will happen to the characters in the story. Chopin employs foreshadowing when she includes how Désirée’s adoptive father felt it was important to learn where