Racism dates back thousands and thousands of years, to the days of cavemen. In the story “Desiree's Child,” Kate Chopin shows how discrimination based on skin color can affect people. Desiree was abandoned and raised by Madame Valmonde. Armand, the child's father, was a member of Louisiana's most prominent families. He falls in love with Desiree and marries her. After having a baby, their relationship quickly corrodes. A few months later, Armand notices that the baby's skin is a darker shade than usual. She accuses Desiree of being black. Armand tells Desiree that he wants her to leave so Desiree takes the baby and "disappears among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, lazy bayou" (Chopin 91) and never returns. Armand discovers that Desiree is black when he reads a letter his mother sent her that reads “she belongs to the race cursed by the stigma of slavery” (Chopin 92). The ironic ending of the story has a connection to the setting, imagery, and Chopin's use of similes. The setting plays an important role in the ironic ending because it takes place in the antebellum South, where blacks are not treated equally to whites. There are several clues as to where and when the story takes place. First, Armand's last name, Aubigny, was "one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana" (Chopin 89), which tells us that it is set in Louisiana. Furthermore, Chopin says that Armand owns a plantation and many slaves, which would not have been possible after the times of the Civil War, showing that the story takes place during the antebellum period. The name of Armand's plantation, L'Abri, is also ironic because it means “the refuge” in French, which is ironic for Desiree because for her it is a bad place and not a good place. Chopin explains how “there was something in the air that threatened his peace.” The story wouldn't be set in any other time or place because, if it were, Desiree wouldn't be discriminated against for being black, so she wouldn't run away to the bayou with the baby. Chopin's use of imagery leads to the irony at the end of the story being the greatest because Chopin contrasts black and white skin colors.