What is the social message that "Desiree's Baby" portrays?

The overwhelming force of this great story is to present
the concept of racism as being something that is completely man made, and therefore only
having the power that men ascribe to it. Of course, this message is conveyed through the
use of grim and bitter irony. Let us remember that throughout the story Armand is
supremely confident of the purity of his bloodline. In contrast to Desiree's obscure
origin, Armand is said to emerge from "one of the oldest and proudest" families of
Louisiana. Thus it is that when his child begins to display a darker skin colour, Armand
automatically assumes that this "fault" comes from Desiree's unknown background and not
his own. The fact that his child, and by extension, his wife, are no longer considered
"white" causes him to not love Desiree anymore, "because of the unconscious injury she
had brought upon his home and his name." His rejection of his wife and child results in
their death, which leads to his own discovery of his mixed background. When he discovers
that the "fault" came from him rather than his wife, Chopin makes it clear that the
concept of race and the racism that emerges from such ideas, are a creation of humans
alone rather than existing independently as given facts or realities of life and the
universe. The colour of our skin only has as much value and importance as we choose to
give it. This is the social message that this story presents us
with.