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Chopin’s foreshadowing in “Désirée’s Baby” is subtle and easier to appreciate on a second read. Madame Valmondé realizes that the baby’s appearance has changed, and her startled reaction strikes an ominous chord. She carries the baby to the window to get a better look and then looks at Zandrine, the baby’s nurse, who turns away. These actions suggest that both women see what Désirée does not—signs that the baby has mixed racial heritage.
Chopin seeds the ground further by describing Armand as having a “dark, handsome face,” while Désirée has gray eyes and skin that is “whiter than yours,” as she reminds Armand. Armand, Désirée boasts, can hear the baby’s cries when he is at La Blanche’s cabin; she is naively missing the reality that he spends time with La Blanche and is possibly having sex with her. This hint foreshadows Désirée’s sudden awareness of how alike her son and La Blanche’s appear.
Even the passing detail about Armand’s parents living in Paris is another subtle hint about the twist at the story’s end, though readers today require a footnote to understand what the detail suggests—that unlike in the United States, in the progressive city of Paris Armand’s parents could live together and get married, as an interracial couple.
