What does the letter which Armand's mother wrote to his father symbolise in "Desiree's Baby"?

The letter at the end of
this excellent story is of course a wonderful yet devastating example of situational , as we
realise that the dark-skinned gene came not from Desiree, as both we and Armand had assumed, but
from himself, and thus he realises that it was his false accusation and terrible behaviour
against his wife that led to her death and the death of his child. Note what the letter
contains:

"But, above, all," she wrote,
"night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand
will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the
brand of slavery."

The contents of the letter show
what a shame it was considered to be at the time of the story to have any "black
blood" in your system. Armand's mother thanks God that her son can remain ignorant of this
fact because of the way it would have affected his standing in society, yet ironically his
mother's success in this respect gives rise to Armand's greatest , as he loses his loving wife
and child. As such, we could argue that the letter symbolises mistaken good intentions: Armand's
mother saw it as a good thing that Armand remained ignorant of his genetic background, but the
tragedy of the story clearly shows that she was wrong. Equally, we could also argue that the
letter shows the danger of jumping to conclusions: the orphaned Desiree with no known relations
seems to be the easy person to blame for the dark skin of her child, whereas in fact it was
Armand who was responsible. Appearances may not always be what they seem.