He And I Dinna Ginzburg Analysis

Sometimes less is more. In fact, in most cases less is more because the absence of excess implies elegance, thoughtfulness, and rarity. (However, I would propose that more is better when it comes to chocolate, books, and swimwear). Natalia Ginzburg’s essay “He and I” is constructed using simple phrases and words. Ginzburg’s writing reminds me of my father’s watch…you can observe all of the parts working together: buzzing, whirring, ticking together in perfect harmony. (Thesis): Ginzburg’s elegant writing style enables her to explore the complexities of a marital relationship in a fluid and legible voice.

Support:

One of the main tools or techniques that Ginzburg employs in “He and I” is just that…contrast. Ginzburg consistently places her husband and herself next to each other: holding various personality quirks up to the light, and comparing the resulting colors and tones. Ginzburg phrases her and her husband’s worlds this

way, “my world, in which these completely unrelated…impressions and cadences rise to the surface, is a sad, barren place. His world, on the other hand, is green and populous and richly cultivated” (Ginzburg 425). The looking glass of Ginzburg’s life reveals one that is made of very few colors: large swaths of opaque color (her interests) surrounded by great spaces of emptiness that will never be filled. “He”, on the other hand, has a looking glass of immense color. His glass reveals almost every color under the rainbow, intermingling and flowing together; the colors bleeding into one another.
Ginzburg masterfully controls her description of her marriage.

He is extroverted, she is introverted. He understands music, she does not. The list goes on and on. “He has done all the things that I have done and many others too” (Ginzburg 427). This line, struck me as a sort of capitulation. Her husband is so successful in whatever he does, that he is successful even in her area of specialty, writing. At first, I thought this was very sad and depressing. But the more I read Ginzburg’s story, the more I was struck with a profound feeling of adventure. This may sound odd, but I think some of the beauty in “He and I” comes from Ginzburg living a life much larger than she would have chosen for herself. When the two looking glasses of their lives are combined together, a whole stain glass is created. His coloring, covers almost every surface of the glass. Her coloring, provides depth and shadow to an otherwise shallow piece. Ginzburg’s simple writing style allows her to focus these two lenses together, to create one picture…a flawed

masterpiece.