What do they tell us about ourselves and the world we live in? How and why do we connect with them?
Desiree’s Baby reflects our attitudes towards race and culture. We like to believe that we have left the old days of racial prejudice behind but this is far from the truth. Biracial children face many obstacles. I know that in my town, Metis kids (native Indian and white) have more trouble fitting in if they have tanned features than Metis kids with very fair features. Similarly we tend to consider the President of the U.S.A, Barack Obama to be a black man even though he had a white mother. The story “A Pair of Silk Stockings” has different themes. Mrs. Sommers lives in the past. She longs for the glory days of her youth to the detriment of both herself and her kids. She attempts to live her youth, long past , without recognizing the realities of the present. We can consider modern day plastic surgery close to this.
