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Analysis Of ' Wife Wooing ' By John Updike

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“Wife-Wooing” is written by John Updike and was published in the New Yorker in 1960. In this short story, John Updike portrays the life of an ordinary family, which he portrays through marriage. Throughout the story, Updike uses vocabulary that makes him extremely different from society. Another aspect that makes this story different are no Character names are mentioned in the short story. Although, no characters’ names are mentioned in the story Updike describes the husband and wife so well that readers will be able to relate and understand each character. A wide variety of love is displayed in “Wife-Wooing”. Misogyny also takes place in the short story. “Wife-Wooing” begins on Sunday evening. A husband, wife, and their …show more content…

Three types of love are Eros, Phileo, and Apapeo. All three words come from the Greek language. Eros is sexual and physical love, Phieleo’s meaning is love of friendship, and Agapeo represents the highest form of love and sacrificial love. In “Wife-Wooing all three types of love are used in each section of the story. In the begging the husband is tremendously in love with his wife of seven years. He describes her as a beautiful amazing woman that he is trying to get alone time with. Despite that she is always busy with their three children. This type of love would be described as Phileo. He loves his with the same way someone would love his or her best friend. He wants to spend time with his wife because she is important to him and his best friend. The next type of love used in “Wife-Wooing” is Agapeo. The husband knows his wife must take care of their children so he makes a sacrifice of not being able to spend as much time with her as he would like to. The last type of love discovered in the shorty story is Eros. Eros plays a major part in the story. The husband describes how her skirt fits and how she looks. The husband wants to have sex with his wife, he does everything he possibly can to get alone time with his wife. Although, the husband loves and adores his wife misogyny is also displayed in the story. A misogynist is a man who hates women or

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