In the plot of "Desiree's Baby," by Kate Chopin, what is the setting and how does this affect the mood?

The setting
of "," one of the few stories thatset before the Civil War, is in the Bayou country of
Louisiana. The Antebellum South enjoyed a luxurious and indulgent period for those plantation
owners who were the aristocracy. On the other hand, for the slaves on the plantations, it was
often an anxious time since there were those who suffered deprivations.

In
the story, years ago when the childless Madame Valmond© found a baby sleeping in the shadow of
a great pillar, she did not worry about the beautiful child's background, for she felt that the
child was a gift from God. 

It was no wonder, when
[D©sir©e] stood one day against the stone pillar in whose shadow she had lain asleep, eighteen
years before, that Armand Aubigny riding by and seeing her there, had fallen in love with her. .
. . The passion that awoke in him that day, when he saw her at the gate, swept along like an
avalanche. . . or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles.

Despite his father's desire to investigate D©sir©e's background,
Armand insists upon marrying her. After D©sir©e has her baby, she is very content and Armand
has softened, now treating the slaves with some kindness. The mood is one of
contentment.

However, after three months, D©sir©e senses a change. She
knows that there is something menacing that threatens her family's happiness. After Madame
Valmond© visits and looks at the baby in the daylight that streams though the window of the
boudoir, she then glances at the "yellow" servant, and she realizes that the infant is
not white. But she says nothing.

D©sir©e's mood of contentment changes. It
becomes one of dark and frightening anxiety. When D©sir©e asks her husband about their baby,
saying "What does it mean?" he replies that it means that D©sir©e is not white. Even
though D©sir©e insists that she is by pointing to her hair and by showing him her arm and hand
that are lighter than his, Armand refuses to believe her. So, D©sir©e anxiously writes to her
mother, who in turn, responds by instructing her to return to her, accompanied by the baby.
After D©sir©e shows her mother's letter to Armaud and asks what she should do, he tells her to
go ahead and leave, repelling her for what he perceives as the cruelty and injustice dealt to
him by fate. In complete despair, D©sir©e departs abstractedly with the baby in her arms. With
no traveling clothes on, D©sir©e does not take the worn road; instead, she walks across an
empty field and into the bayou area.

She disappeared among
the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish bayou; and she did
not come back again.

The conclusion of this story has a
dark and despairing mood. D©sir©e seems to be lost, and Armaud burns everything connected to
her, including her letters to him. But, in pulling out these letters to burn, Armaud comes
across a letter written by his mother. She writes to his father about how glad she is that
Armaud will never know his mother, a woman that is "cursed with the brand of
slavery."