They'Re Not Your Husband

This message is illustrated by the pursuit of power by the characters. In “There not you Husband” we learn that Earl has lost his job and he feels defeated. He then goes to a dinner where his wife Doreen works, there he overhears the two men talking about his wife’s weight. At this moment he

The narrator only compounds the laughable idea that these women are up to par with the average reader--after all, O'Connor was a well educated woman, writing for the literate--when he/she notes Mrs. Hopewell's "charitable" pride of Mrs. Freeman: Mrs. Hopewell liked to tell people [...] that Mrs. Freeman was a lady and that she was never "ashamed to take her anywhere" (Diyanni 172). The reader is inclined to laugh even harder at this, a terrible irony, after having already established both ladies as simple, "good country people." Of course, most of the true irony or humor found in O'Connor's stories is not found in the immediate and obvious. If we were to consider only Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman in the context in which they are presented to us in the beginning of the story, then we would have to conclude that O'Connor is in fact making fun of the faithful. Fortunately, she is a much better writer with a much deeper intent than that; as the story develops, so does the integrity of the "simple people." This eventual increase in status is something unexpected, especially since O'Connor supplies the reader with a perfectly acceptable, intellectual character with which to relate: Joy, or more fittingly, Hulga.

Dieting is a difficult form of self-deprivation but the woman hates her overweight body. Therefore, the ad promises to

“I eat celery, I drink only water or diet coke, I do three hours on the Stairmaster everyday,” she said. “But despite

Television psychologists and pop culture self-help gurus tell us that marriage is hard work; marriage is compromise; marriage is a choice between being right, and being happy. All of these statements are true. What these experts don’t tell us, however, is that marriage is also about putting on blinders, or looking on the bright side, or one of a hundred other trite phrases to explain the art of self-deception. In marriage, there are times when we may find it necessary to look the other way from our spouse’s faults or indiscretions, in the interest of self-preservation. For if we examine these problems too closely, our darkest, most secret fears may come true. Therefore, it can seem easier to focus on the positive. In her poem “Surprise,” Jane Kenyon uses denial, selective perception, and fear of betrayal to illustrate the self-deception that can occur in marriage.

Carver uses foreshadowing as a prominent element in this story. There are many examples of foreshadowing throughout the story. The first time the reader gets to see obvious foreshadowing is when the woman picks up the picture of the baby off the bed where the man is packing his belongings. “Then she noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up. He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room” (277). This small detail foreshadows that physical altercation that the couple will go through with the baby. The last big foreshadow that the reader gets is when the couple knocks over the flower pot. “The baby was red-faced and screaming. In the scuffle they knocked own a flowerpot that hung behind the stove” (277). This is very brief and only mentioned in this sentence. But this is the foreshadowing of the relationship that is broken, or even worse the baby being broken along with the relationship. While there are details at the beginning on the story, there are smaller things that can easily be looked over but are very important. The characters in this story, since it is minimalist fiction, are not ever given names. The characters are always just referred to as; the man, the woman, and the baby. The audience never finds out why the couple is breaking

The importance of family is not something that we can argue. Our relationships with parents, children, and siblings or the lack of such relationships have a huge impact on our lives. Similarly for literary characters, which authors present as either to have “normal” or “abnormal” relationships. Three authors whose writing published in the 20th century focuses on family as a central theme are Alice Walker, Flannery O’Connor, and Raymond Carver. A commonality between all three stories is the emphasize on the role of women within the family unit. All three short stories use different elements such as characterization, conflict, plot, symbolism and tone, but while Alice Walker and Raymond Carver present “normal” family relationships, Flannery

Brady also uses irony to develop an opinion towards the basic male perspective on gender roles: "I want a wife who will work and send me to school. The technique of using irony gets the message across of all males wanting to have a perfect wife. Brady wants to have "a wife who is a good nurturing attendant" to her children. " The most ironic element about Brady's essay is that she has allowed herself to become a wife, and is now regretting it, wanting a wife of her own. The strategy of using irony is that it shows that all males are looking for a wife as prefect as the one described by Brady. And "I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean. As well, Brady would also like to have a wife take care of her physical and social needs: "I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean," "who cooks the meals," "who will care for me when I am sick" and "a wife who

“It’s this new diet I’m trying,” Mitchell says. “Someone told me it’s really good. And I thought I could lose some weight.”

James Hurst in “The Scarlet Ibis” discusses the transformative relationship between two brothers. The narrator, referred to as Brother, is insecure and is embarrassed by his younger brother, Doodle. As of these traits, he emits harmful behaviors on Doodle and addresses the situation with a development project, to try and change him into something far from himself. Throughout the short story, The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, the narrator expresses unspoken shame and pride, however, at the end, when his traits cause extreme measures on his younger brother, Doodle, he recognizes the mental instability he had. The primary characterization of the narrator in the short story shows his absolute embarrassment and disappointment with having Doodle

Marriage is a full-time job on its own and people should communicate with each other in order to have a healthy marriage for them to love and appreciate each other so they can grow old together. Most of us know by now that the fairy tale happily ever after stories are full of holes. Carver emphasizes that when there is no communication in the marriage the wife starts to feel unhappy and frustrated with him. The wife’s attitude with her husband suggests that the marriage doesn’t seem to be working for her. Carver states, “My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had the feeling she didn’t like what she saw. I shrugged (38). ” There was unhappiness in the marriage and the narrator and his wife didn’t seem to get along. In other words the

Finally, it appears that Carver does not give an adequate description of his characters. The male and the female characters in this story are flat, stock characters. Because Carver relies on commonly held gender-based stereotypes this helps the reader to create his or her own image of the characters. The need for physical or psychological description is not necessary. For example, the woman?s opening statement, ?I?m glad you?re leaving! I?m glad you?re leaving! Do you hear?? (265), illustrates that she is a stereotypical, emotional female, who is out of control. Furthermore, the man?s refusal to acknowledge her illustrates a stereotypical male response to conflict. It shows that he considers her unworthy of a response. As if the same fight has occurred many times before and he knows there is no sense in replaying this scene again. The story escalates to a

Carver also emphasizes the contradictions within the characters themselves in the story, which illustrates the uncertainty of love, and how there is not a clearly defined approach to understanding it. Returning to the topic of Terri's previous marriage, Mel, her current husband, complains about his failure to understand how she could refer to that abusive relationship as love. However, later on when she corrects him while he is talking, he turns to her and asks her to "shut up" (Carver 767). Another important contradiction which takes place throughout the entire story, is how the four friends are discussing a subject which they all have had bad experiences with, since they have all been divorced and remarried. The contradictions throughout Carver's story symbolize how love can also contradict itself, and trying to understand love is impossible since so many particular cases can negate specific examples of love.

Modern literature is known for questioning society and its various conventions. One question that these works often ask is, “What is real?” Some modern authors explore this question by placing their characters within self-constructed illusions that are later shattered by the introduction of reality. Marriages are frequently at the center of this theme, with one spouse crafting an illusory impression of the other. Modern literature demonstrates that a marriage built upon illusion will falter when exposed to reality.

The Article soon goes on to talk about how the women in the study have previously engage in cutting carbs and even skipping meals because they wanted to look thin.