Shadows are a recurring motif in "Désirée’s Baby." They are an important component of how Chopin describes the story’s setting, and as they reappear throughout the story, they allow Chopin to create layers of meaning and resonance. Initially, shadows are referenced in Madame Valmondé’s flashback. On the drive over to L’Abri, she remembers:
Why, it seemed but yesterday that Désirée was little more than a baby herself; when Monsieur in riding through the gateway of Valmondé had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the big stone pillar.
In this initial instance, when Désirée is discovered as an orphaned baby outside of the Valmondé plantation, shadows are a symbol of her ambiguous origins. Because Désirée’s racial background is unknown, her link to darkness and shadows is a significant part of the story’s opening. But the question of Désirée’s race comes up regularly, and it becomes a consideration again when she is spotted by her future husband, Armand:
“It was no wonder, when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow she had lain asleep, eighteen years before…”
Again, Chopin mentions shadows to underscore the tension in the story surrounding Désirée’s ambiguous past. Now, however, the image of Désirée’s arrival as a baby has taken on additional meaning, as she is spotted in the same place by Armand. Armand falls for her immediately, despite the fact that her race has not been clarified—an ambiguity that is reinforced by the fact that she's standing in the very same shadow in which she first appeared. Their marriage is therefore plays out under a shadow of the unknown.
Later, when Madame Valmondé arrives at L’Abri, she notices:
“Big, solemn oaks grew close to it, and their thick-leaved, far-reaching branches shadowed it like a pall.”
The shadows follow Armand and Désirée to their home at L’Abri, and using them as a motif allows Chopin to make it clear that some unknown factor is at play. They represent something difficult to see or ascertain—something that creates a sense of unease. This is an important aspect of the short story because Chopin is building toward a climax where her characters make incorrect assumptions before previously unknown information comes into the light. Therefore, certain vital pieces of information are "shadowed" until the very last lines of the story.
