A Husband’s Worst Nightmare When a husband hears the news of his wife having an affair outside their marriage, he becomes the victim and is left to decide what to do about the situation. While an author can set up this chain of events with ease, taking the story and giving it life is something completely different. To bring the audience in and assist them in feeling what the husband is thinking and feeling, and at the same time showing sympathy to the wife is truly a work of art. “Under the Radar” a short story by Richard Ford does just that. Throughout this story the author uses background and specific emotions so the reader is brought in close. So close that the reader feels involved in someway. They end up feeling like they …show more content…
This conflict, for the time being, has put Steven in the limelight. Not knowing anything about the characters in the beginning gives the reader the chance to make up their mind prematurely, form an opinion about Marjorie, without knowing who either Steven or Marjorie are in their real lives. Ford has Marjorie use, what seems to be, a typical apology for a conflict of this nature. He shows that even though there was an unforgivable event, it’s human nature to try to back out of the situation at hand. It gives Steven a chance to accept or decline her. It also gives Steven the chance to decide the future of the relationship. “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, Steven,” she said, “but I felt I should tell you before we got to George’s. The Nicolsons’, I mean. It’s all over. It’ll never happen again. I promise you . No one will ever mention it. I just lost my bearings last year with the move. I’m sorry.” (Ford 22) Marjorie tries to make the future seem bright, attempts to justify her actions, and then lastly she apologizes for what had happened. She uses a series of steps to reassure herself, as well as Steven, that they are safe from this ever coming up again. Post-apology, Steven shows no signs of accepting her apology. Steven sits in his seat quietly, almost still in shock. Ford has created a situation in which the main characters will not recover from. The setting for this
For Example in the book there is a quote when Steven was talking to his mom about his brother and he said, ¨How would you like to be the king of the planet for eight glorious years and then suddenly get demoted to vice - king¨ (4). This shows me that he was mad at his brother because he felt that all the attention got turned to Jeffrey because he was now the youngest. Steven was jealous of Jeffrey because he wasn't getting any attention anymore. For a while this was the way it was Steven did not like Jeffrey and he never cared about him. Suddenly this feeling completely changes. This quote shows the dialogue between Steven and his mom. Steven was mad about his brother being the youngest and Steven was telling his mom how he felt about the
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.
Robert is a caring man who knows how to listen and hold a mature conversation. Robert and the narrator’s wife’s relationship began ten years ago, when “she'd seen something in the paper: HELP WANTED—Reading to a Blind man, and a telephone number. She phoned and went over, was hired on the spot.” (179). Over the summer “they’d become good friends” (179), and at the end, Robert was allowed to touch her face, making their friendship more personal. His wife found it memorable and significant, “she even tried to write a poem about it.” (179). After that summer, the narrator’s wife moved away from Seattle to an Air Force base in Alabama with her childhood sweetheart. The narrator’s wife moved around quite a bit and would often feel lonely, and unhappy in her situation. After a suicide attempt, she put her thoughts and feelings on tapes to send to Robert. Robert was always emotionally there for her, to support her, something her current husband cannot offer her. This communication that was allowed through audio tapes was a real emotional bond, forged with understanding and caring. When they meet in person for the first time in ten years, it seemed as if nothing has changed between
As the story progresses, the readers see a falling out of that marriage for obvious reasons.
The good author will leave the reader with a powerful message without straight out telling them while at the same time using very little words in portraying this message. Molly Giles’ author of “The Poets Husband” and Pamela Painter author of “The New Year” have done a wonderful job of providing a strong micro-short story. The authors use a lot of symbolism and strong short sentences that lead to an understanding of an unhappy relationship due to mistreatment. Although both stories end differently they both leave the reader to connect with the characters about feeling forgotten. Whether they have ever been in a relationship where they stayed even though they were unhappy or the reader has ever been in a relationship where they themselves have cheated and have been broken up with but continues to feel for what they could have had and through away for a quick fling. It is important to keep in mind both angles of a failing relationship and when reading both of these micro-short stories the reader will feel surprisingly more sympathetic and educated in that
The best part of a long, hard-working day is when you finally get to lay in your bed, close your eyes and let your imagination run free. As you sleep your mind takes you to another place far away from the real world. You begin to dream. Over the night, you may have several dreams. In the morning, you may wake up and wonder what your dreams were suppose to mean for you and your life. By analyzing your dream, it "gives a true picture of the 'subjective state'-how we really feel about ourselves-which the conscious mind cannot or will not give" (Wietz 289). In order to find the meaning of a dream, you have to pick out the most important symbols and define them. But you may be wondering what exactly is a symbol?
Trauma is something about 70% of Americans experience in their lifetime. How does it change the way our dreams structure themselves, or the intensity of images we see? Trauma can directly affect dreams, but how exactly it does affect dreams is what I’ll be exploring today. The purpose of this essay is to embark on a journey learning about trauma, dreams, and other things relating to it. Trauma can be seen to have a direct relationship dreams, and discovering that is the purpose of this paper.
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
Did you know that every 9 seconds a women is being beaten or assaulted? It is known that around the world, at least one and every three women has been beaten into having sex or some rudely thing in her entire lifetime. There are many cases where the abuser is a family member. Domestic violence is that the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sex crime, and different abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner against another. It is a virulent disease touching people in each community, notwithstanding age, economic standing, race, religion, status or academic background. Violence against girls is usually amid showing emotion abusive and dominant behavior, and so is a component of a scientific pattern of dominance and
Spousal Abuse is a rising issue today in the United States. Spousal Abuse affects individuals of all social classes and gender and both males and females are victims of spousal abuse. Abuse of men is not a topic commonly known or discussed in our society as easily as abuse of females for various reasons. However it is a topic that needs to be examined so men who are being abused know they are not alone and society treats it as problem and not over look it. Bedsides the individuals directly involved it also affects children, other family members and friends that surround them.
To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.
I looked up at the black sky. I hadn't intended to be out this late. The sun had set, and the empty road ahead had no streetlights. I knew I was in for a dark journey home. I had decided that by traveling through the forest would be the quickest way home. Minutes passed, yet it seemed like hours and days. The farther I traveled into the forest, the darker it seemed to get. I was very had to even take a breath due to the stifling air. The only sound familiar to me was the quickening beat of my own heart, which felt as though it was about to come through my chest. I began to whistled to take my mind off the eerie noises I was hearing. In this kind of darkness I was in, it was hard for me to believe that I could be
Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father is exactly what it claims to be by title, a story of race and identity. Barack Obama comes from a diverse background, which he explores throughout the book. Having a white American mother and black Kenyan father, he has a different experience than the majority of people in society when it comes to race and identity, however still it seems similar to the experience of many blacks as described in William E. Cross’s Black Psychological theory, the Nigresence Model of Racial Identity Development. While Obama’s experience does not necessarily occur in chronological order according to Cross’s model, in my opinion, it portrays a good example of how someone enters each stage of
My first job was to dress him then to feed John. Then I put him into
I jolted awake in fear. I had a dream. A weird dream. A vivid dream. It was full of people shouting and bright flashes of light. It was confusing yet clear, like some part of me understood it. I didn’t know it would be important then but now I know. How? Well, it happened like this…