Literary Analysis Of Alice Munro 's ' How I Met My Husband '

Alice’s relationship would not go very far, constructing her ending for Henry, “Henry Reyna married Della in 1948 and they have five kids, three of them now going to the University, speaking calo and calling themselves Chicanos.” This quote essentially dispersed Alice’s hope for something more with Henry. Making Alice side with Henry’s parents in his potential marriage with Della due to his responsibilities, “If it was just me and you, Henry it might be different. But you have to think of your family.” This quote shows Alice’s understanding of what Henry must do. In the end Alice’s feelings are put aside due to what cannot be done and what must be

Ed is described as the ‘cornerstone of mediocrity’ who lives in a ‘shack’ in a less desirable part of town, who has ‘no real potential’. Throughout the text Ed completes an array of different tasks giving the readers an inside perspective of the experiences. ‘Old lady Milla’ is one of Ed’s many tasks, he supplies her with the company she so desperately needs, but not only did he help her, she ‘put a piece of her heart inside’ him. The readers see Ed’s transformation from ‘dickhead Ed’ to a kind gentlemen willing to spend his time reading to a ‘lonely’ ‘old lady’ of which he barely knows. One of the toughest challenges Ed faces is his Ma, ‘one of his darkest hours’ as Ed is forced to confront his mother.

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

Edelman opens her essay by recalling the countless hours early in her marriage in which her husband spent working (50). With his hours increasing, she unwillingly cut back on her own work hours to care for their child. Edelman then spends time sharing her disillusionment with the newfound reality of her

After years of quiet suffering, Janie finds the strength to confront Jody on his deathbed, " ‘But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me’ ” (86). Angry and finally motivated to speak her mind, Janie articulates her value as a woman and a wife, blaming Jody for being too self-involved and egotistical to appreciate her worth. Ironically, Joe’s attempts to stifle Janie during their marriage only serve to amplify her voice at its end. In stark contrast, Hurston’s heroine comes full circle to discover a peaceful inner-voice with soul mate Tea Cake who treats Janie as an equal and encourages her to express herself. Reminiscing with Phoeby, Janie explains, “ ‘Talkin’ don’t amount tuh a hill uh beans...you got tuh go there tuh know there...find out about livin’ fuh themselves’ “ (192). Janie had to endure the unhappiness and abuse of two failed marriages to discover her voice and find the courage to use it, eventually leading her to love and happiness with Tea Cake. Certainly each of Janie’s relationships, whether a failure and success, lends clarity and volume to her voice over the course of her

The story, “Runaway”, written by Alice Munro, suggests how human beings try to escape from their problems when they cannot manage them. The story tells how a girl in a bad marriage who unable to deal with it runs from the situation but later came back, refuses a chance of escape from her abusive husband. Even the goat Flora who cannot be fully tamed as an animal runs away and Carla is described as a girl who wants the attention from her husband that she does not get and runs away from him. Carla’s nature is like the goat Flora because they both escape from their situations. Munro shows parallels between Flora and Carla, which argues that Flora’s behavior mirrors Carla’s relationship with Clark.

To begin with, in the novel marriage is the center topic. Marriage is the formal union of a man and women who are in love. The main character Janie Crawford is on a spiritual journey for self-identity and fulfillment through love. Janie’s story of self-discovery is told as a flash back. On this journey Janie meets three men who take her on a wild roller coaster ride. They each fill a

Alterations: Comparing the Changes Caused by Marriage of the two Bessie Head Short Stories, “Life” and “Snapshots of a Wedding”

Mrs. Peebles had to explain to Edie that “being intimate means a lot more than that [kissing]...” (Munro, page 51). Everyday after Chris left, Edie would “go up to the mailbox and sit in the grass, waiting.” (Munro, page 52). She still had a child like faith that Chris would write her a letter. Edie is still showing that she is naïve, but she also is starting to show some aspects of realism.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Sinclair Ross’s “The Painted Door” are both stories about women protagonists who feel emotionally isolated from their husbands, who both go by the name John. Ann in “The Painted the Door” and the wife whose name may or may not be Jane in “The Yellow Wallpaper” are women who deal with emotional isolation. Emotional isolation is a state of isolation where one may be in a relationship but still feel emotional separation. In these two stories, both women feel emotionally isolated from their husbands due to lack of communication. In both stories, lack of communication results from one individual failing to disclose their true feelings and instead he or she are beating around the bush, hoping the other party will know what they want. If both parties directly disclose their desires and feelings to one another, there would be a better understanding of each other which as a result would help save marriages. This paper will look at how both women lack communication, how they both their approach their emotional isolation differently, and how their failure to communicate to their husbands and their approach, results in the failure to save their marriage. “The Painted Door” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are stories that show how both women protagonists are emotionally isolated due to their failure to communicate their feelings and desires to their husbands. Instead of direct communication to their husbands, the women find other

Edie Sedgwick was a short-lived socialite and actress that rose to fame in the 1960s. Beloved but misunderstood by all she met, her actions puzzled many throughout her life and have continued to fascinate since her untimely death in 1971 at a mere 28 years old. She was troubled throughout her life, constantly being placed under the care of various therapists and psychiatric hospitals, though doctors were never able to diagnose her erratic behavior. Due to her strict and sheltered upbringing, she did not make an independent social debut until she was 20 years old, but given the opportunity, her fame and influence skyrocketed. Despite her instability, she became an icon of her time and continues to inspire books and movies based on her short

certainly connect with the narrator’s story of I Want a Wife. This is a narrative essay, in which

“Boys and Girls” is a short story, by Alice Munro, which illustrates a tremendous growing period into womanhood, for a young girl living on a fox farm in Canada, post World War II. The young girl slowly comes to discover her ability to control her destiny and her influences on the world. The events that took place over the course of the story helped in many ways to shape her future. From these events one can map the Protagonist’s future. The events that were drawn within the story provided the Protagonist with a foundation to become an admirable woman.

“How I Met My Husband” by Alice Munro is a short story about Edie, a fifteenth year old girl, who works at Dr. Peebles and Mrs.Peebles house taking care of their children, cleaning the house, preparing the vegetables and occasionally baking desserts. One day they heard a plane pass by, and they ran into the yard to look. Their neighbor Loretta Bird mentioned that the plane was close to hitting their house and began to talk about the plane. She also specified that the pilot received permission to use the fairgrounds and give residents rides to see the neighborhood from above. The next day when Edie finished her tasks early, she sometimes would look at Mrs. Peebles’ clothes and even tried on a dress and put makeup on. She headed to the kitchen to drink ginger ale and gets startled by a man, named Chris Watters, standing outside the door. He mentions he 's the pilot of the plane and asks if he can obtain some water from the pump. He complimented and thanked her and left to the pump. After she rushed to take off the dress and wash her face before Mrs. Peebles arrived to the house. Mrs. Peebles commenced to ask questions about the man, but Edie contemplated on becoming fired if the man revealed how she dressed. After the Dr. and Mrs. Peebles departed to the theater, Edie ensured the children were sleeping then headed outside. She desired to talk to Chris to make sure he wouldn 't say anything about her dressed up. He assured he wouldn 't reveal anything and offered her a

Blin’s work throughout this article does not just develop into discussing the short story itself, but mainly focuses on the notation of the authors writing. This article, “Alice Munro’s naughty coordinators in Friend of My Youth” by Lynn Blin is an interesting read; by being able to use this article as a template for any other piece of writing while still being very useful and specific towards “Friend of My Youth”. She breaks down the sentences and words to understand the deeper workings of “Friend of My Youth”. Blin points out that Munro purposely leaves important information out of her story, leaving the narrator and the reader in the dark. “It is in… gaps that Munro not only enables us to play our role of active readers by inviting us to fill them in, it is in these gaps she constructs the space in her text to enable various narrative voices to be heard” (paragraph 71). By identifying those blanks the reader can come up with assumptions of what is really happening and thus can come up with a variety of outcomes.