The Disappearance Short Story Summary

The home as a place of comfort does not exist for the narrator; companionship with her husband is lost. Her only real conversations occur on paper, as no one else speaks to her of anything other than her condition. She is stripped of her role as a wife, robbed of her role as a mother, and is reduced to an object of her husband's.

“They wept together, for the things they now knew.”(104) The last sentence of the first story in Interpreter of Maladies, reveals the cruelty of the elapsed romance in a marriage. In the two collections, A Temporary Matter and The Third and Final Continent, Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrates that a marriage can be either uplifting or discouraging depends on the mindset held by the couple and the strength of human bonding. Lahiri emphasizes the significance of mindset and human bondings through the ending of the two stories. The endings of the two stories are polar opposite : In A Temporary Matter, Shukumar and Shobha weeps for the termination of their relationship; The Third and Final Continent, by contrast, the protagonist(MIT) enjoys a fairytale-like

She essentially discusses how she does all of these things, but doesn’t get much in return. Another example of pathos in this essay is when she talks specifically about the sexual relationship that a wife and husband have. “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it.” In this quote, Brady compares the sex that a wife has with her husband to another chore that she does. She shows that there is no mutual emotion or desire between them and that it is more of a duty of a wife rather than a pleasure. Essentially, she compares herself and any other wife to a sex puppet who is just there to service the husband with little to no joy. These two examples make the reader sympathize with Brady and the common housewife because of all of the responsibilities that they have as well as how they get little to no pleasure out of what they have to do. Lastly, Brady’s hasty tone shows her resentment towards divorced men as well as men in general. This allows the audience to understand her feelings on the topic of gender dynamics and it forces the audience to feel that way too.

In the 1970’s the average family had a wife that would take care of all of the cooking, the cleaning, everything concerning their kids, and even caring for her husband too. They did all of this without complaining, while their husband was at work. In those times nothing less was expected from them. In the article “Why I Want a Wife” Brady uses ethos, logos, and pathos to illustrate her opinion of what a wife do in a marriage, in which she infers that wives do too much for their families.

In paragraphs three through seven, Brady provides the reader with what she desires in a wife. Through repetition and tone, she shows the reader the unrealistic roles of a wife.

. A diligent housewife had dinner on the table precisely at the moment her husband arrived from work, and a wife was a “good” wife only if she carried out her man’s every order and agreed with him on everything (Coob).” The women in The Crucible are treated as a kind

The men in this story were very stereotypical of the women’s capabilities. It says in the text, “‘Oh, well,’ said Mrs. Hale’s husband, with good-natured superiority, ‘women are used to worrying over trifles.’”(Glaspell) Mrs. Hale’s husband in the story was being very stereotypical about what women are used to. He says that women are used to worrying about small things and is saying that they are over dramatic. Mrs. Hale’s husband also went on to say, “‘Dirty towels! Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?’” (Glaspell) Him saying this is not only insulting their ability to clean but he is also saying this like it is their job to clean the towels. He also says this in a very demeaning and arrogant manner.

The men’s word choice and tone when speaking to Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale comes across as demeaning and belittling. For example, when the men walk in on the women talking about Mrs. Wright’s quilt, the sheriff scoffs, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or knot it!” (Glaspell 601). Although the men limit the women to the “trifles” of housework and childcare, they still continue to mock them for delighting in those few things they are allowed. By continuously ridiculing their character and intelligence, the men are creating an oppressive state for the women to live in. They abuse their roles in the lives of their wives and ultimately spoil the concept of a happy marriage, creating tension and conflict between the men and women of their

The narrator’s varying stately yet fervent tone illustrates her obligatory feelings as well as her true emotions regarding her husband and lifestyle through her descriptions of the “nursery” where she is confined (Gilman, 648). John, since he is both her husband and doctor, “hardly lets [her] stir without special direction,” characteristic of patriarchs of the family; he also “laughs at [her], of course, but one one expects that in marriage.” (Gilman, 648 and 647). Since the narrator feels

An analogy has been drawn about how she was in the past and how is she now. She was a carefree person, demanding love in her life, wanting to take care of her children and become a house wife and now she works as a schoolteacher, has become a responsible person concerned about her husband and child, struggling for her son’s life, bearing tantrums of her sister-in-law and living in a small house in a small city. On the other hand, Komal, sister-in-law of Anjali is a character shown who seems to be frustrated from her life from the time she has lost her husband. The book has depicted another face of an Indian woman, who lives her entire life following the customs that the society has decided for a widow. Anjali tried to make her first marriage successful by taking care of small things like making her husband, his favorite cardamom chai and best of meals while Prakash’s second wife Indu was never concerned about any of his likings and gave priority to her own personal

I agree with your point here, Fern is trying to describe the event in such a way that other women that are reading it can see just how unnecessary this is. She is trying to portray the fact that a marriage is a two way street in which I agree. In this time women lacked confidence it thought they had to go up and above to keep the attention of their husband which is not entirely true. Where you point out that it is impossible to create a perfect household, i believe is what fern is trying to ultimately say her and to try to comfort those young wives in their relationship. The fact that she is trying to teach them something that is not popular in society at this time was a big step for women

Expectations of the role that women have in marriage have changed with the years. In the past, women were expected to stay at their homes and to take care of the cooking, cleaning and all the daily activities that need to be done at homes. Besides that, they needed to take care of the children while their husbands were at work. Now things have changed and women and men share almost the same responsibilities in their marriage, but there are still some cultures around the world where women’s roles in marriage has not changed at all. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” their marriage went down after she had their child because he could not help her in the depression that she was suffering. In Trifles, John Wright did not let her wife be happy by keeping

This was a typical aspect of a house wife during this time. Helen gave up trying to fight for the attention of her husband over his work, he was so invested that he missed out on his life with her and his children.

During the story I have come to understand the mother best. She becomes too afraid to take a stand against her husband's tyrannical outburst's, she's happy and content with so little to say and nothing of meager value to prove to her children. The mother has been ravaged by her husband's constant complaining about the smallest of burdens for years, she has adapted to his behavior and has allowed her children to become victims of the insanity.

They 'll think we 're insane” (146). One can see how ashamed he is toward they things his wife does. This is another example of a conflict which deeply shows his feeling towards the women he supposed to to spend his life with.