A racist husband belittles / shames his wife for having a baby that appears to be ethnically mixed. Outraged, he tells her to leave, and so she tailspins mentally. Her dread is all-consuming that he won't believe her when she says she's white. Plot twist and the end that makes the ending superb / spectacular.

“Desiree’s Baby” was first published in 1893 in Vogue Magazine in a section called Character Studies. It tells the story of an abandoned baby growing up on a slave plantation and later marrying into aristocracy only to be condemned by her husband due to their first-born showing signs of black ancestry. Though short, the story raises questions that plagued the American South in the 19th century, such as the pervasive institutionalized racism in the society and the fulfilment of women’s identities outside of marriage and motherhood. And the poetic justice is so well refined and clever, it rendered me speechless.