The Glass Ceiling in Relation to Happiness Anonymous College

“The Yellow Face,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and “Désirée’s Baby,” by Kate Chopin, both touch on themes such as racism, gender equality, hypocrisy, and identity. These stories can best be understood through one another and, when juxtaposed, reveal a greater theme. In these stories the female character is seeking approval of the male character, in order to foster her own happiness.

One similarity is that both stories involve secret pasts. In “The Yellow Face,” we know that Effie was previously married and has a child from said marriage. Supposedly, both the husband and child passed away due to yellow fever, and their death certificates were burned in a fire shortly thereafter. Effie fled America to escape from the heartache. It was there in England that she met Mr. Grant Munro. We learn that they have been happily married for three years, yet something has recently caused Effie to become distant. That something is Effie’s daughter, who is not actually deceased, but rather living in the house down the road. Désirée also lacks a definite history in “Désirée’s Baby.” The Valmondés adopted her, after finding her...