In the following essay, Erickson explores how Chopin uses fairytale features in "Désirée's Baby" for "exploration of the theme of appearance versus reality."

The presence of fairytale features in Kate Chopin's "Désirée's Baby" is virtually unmistakable. What is perhaps less obvious is how they are used in the story as a basis for its exploration of the theme of appearance versus reality, a theme that is omnipresent in the traditional fairytale. The features are put to use for the purposes of the short story, but their presence raises expectations in the reader that are potentially incompatible with those of a realistic short story. The result is a rather complex tension between these expectations and the possibility of their being realized in a non-fairytale world—a tension that contributes substantially to the interest of the story.

This juxtaposition of...