Irwin Shaw's The Girl In Their Summer Dresses

668 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the effect of marital conflict

In every relationship there will eventually be arguments. Sometimes the person who is at fault will be easy to point out but in other cases, it can be more complicated than that. In the story, “The Girl in Their Summer Dresses” by Irwin Shaw, the characters, Michael and Francis are married. They seem to start their day off pleasantly but as the day proceeds, the decency of the day seems to vanish.The turning point in the story is when Michael is caught by his wife looking at other girls, then closer to the end of the story he doesn't hesitate to deeply explain to his wife what he loves about other girls, and how he fantasizes being free from their marriage. Frances does not take her husband's words lightly. In this case, Michael is at fault by his lack of respect for his wife's feelings, his unfaithful words, and his disrespectful body language. …show more content…

Frances was very content being with her husband, and was trying to talk to him about the day she had planned. As she began talking, Michael zoned out on her, and focused in on all the girls he passed by. Instantaneously, Frances notices his body and eyes turn to look at each women and she certainly got upset. Irwin Shaw writes, “ Are you listening to me? Sure, he said. He took his eyes off the hatless girl with the dark hair, cut dancer-style like a helmet, who was walking past him.” In this scene, Michael was more interested in other women than his own wife. Michael’s disrespectful body language was unacceptable and lousy to his

Show More
Related

  • Analyzing Marie Howe's Poem 'Watching Television'

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marie Howe’s feelings are expressed after arguing with a man who plays a significant role in her

    Read More

  • Interpersonal Communication In The Break-Up

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    While all relationships can be difficult, romantic relationships seem to be some of the most complicated types. Sometimes two people can care for one another so much, yet they cannot seem to communicate effectively. When a lack of communication occurs between two people for a long period of time, it most likely will lead to a huge confrontation and possibly a complete dissolve of the relationship. The Break-Up is a movie that shows how important interpersonal communication is in relationships. The movie features Brooke and Gary, a couple which has been together for several years. Although they seem to be arguing about something trivial like lemons, there are much bigger issues that begin to surface. Throughout this paper I will show how

    Read More

  • Woman Hollering Creek Compare And Contrast Essay

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “Woman Hollering Creek” the conflict of the story is between the main characters Cleofilas, the protagonist, and Juan, the antagonist who are married. The conflict stems from Cleofilas’ perception of how a wife should be treated versus Juan’s idea of how to treat

    Read More

  • The Crucible And Gone Girl Analysis

    488 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl, both of the husbands characters realize having trust in their marriages is very important. In The Crucible, John Proctor cheated on his wife Elizabeth with a younger girl named Abigail, and his wife soon found out. In Gone Girl, Amy Dunne, who is the wife of Nick, planted out a murder scene in their house and made it look like Nick had killed her. John Proctor and Nick Dunne both realize, neither of their relationships have a lot of trust in them at all. In these stories, you learn not everyone can be trusted, and some people are not really who they resemble.

    Read More

  • A Feminist in Action in The Yellow Wallpaper

    1794 Words  | 4 Pages

    As the story begins, the narrator's compliance with her role as a submissive woman is easily seen.  She states, "John laughs at me, but one expects that in marriage" (Gilman 577).  These words clearly illustrate the male's position of power in a marriage t...

    Read More

  • The Birthday Party

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to underscore her message and strengthen the story. The husband’s words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife’s gift with “punishing…quick, curt, and unkind” (19) words, he is being selfish. Selfishness is a matter of taking, just as love is a matter of giving. He has taken her emotional energy, and she is left “crying quietly and heartbrokenly” (21). Using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and damages their relationship.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in The Short life of Francis Macomber

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Francis Macomber is a middle age man that is good at court games such as: tennis or squash, competitions where there are set standards and rules for play. Also, there are confined areas of play for his games. He is quite wealthy and some say handsome which add to Francis masculinity. His wife on the other hand does not think that much of him and thinks of him as a coward. Margot on the other hand his “beautiful wife”, whom really does not like Francis but stays with him anyway. She cheats on him and despises, basically because he married her only for her looks. Margot on the other hand is part responsible for the same thing because she only married him for his money. They are both stuck in a situation because they both married for the wrong reasons. Their gender roles are sort of fighting against each other because she doesn’t care about the relationship and cheats; and he tries to prove that he is a man and yet fails because he tries too hard. Masculinity is something that Margot and others at the Safari think it is an aspect of manhood that Francis lacks.

    Read More

  • Communication In A Note On A Marriage

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    The actress states, “There’s got to be more to this marriage than a few hastily scribbled words on a small square of pastel paper! By the way. We’re out of post-its,” (Dooley and Holzman, 852). This results in the audience to question the actress’s goal of fixing the relationship with her husband, because the audience understands that she is unhappy with how they communicate, yet still asks for more of the basis of the communicative ways they do now, seeing no end to the repetitive cycle (Dooley and Holzman, 852). It is clear that the conversations between the two characters make the audience questionable of the character’s relationship in many ways.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Samuel Beckett's "Play",

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    The characters begin telling the stories of their life, and how the love triangle affected them. The language is colourful, although filled with bitterness, jealousy, and frustration. They each feel they have been tortured by the other two, and speak as if they are trying to justify their own actions towards the others. M is angry that he was caught, and that he admitted, saying, "Adulterers, take warning, never admit." He does not feel guilt for the adultery, but rather frustration at not being able to please both women. It appears that he accuses both women of playing with his emotions, rendering him unable to choose between them. Miller's The Ride Down Mount Morgan features the same displacement of guilt in Lyman's polygamous tale. In Play, W1, as the wife of M, feels she has been mistreated by M's adultery. She uses her ange...

    Read More

  • The Stranger by Albert Camus

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Meursault returns home he decides to take another day off and relax at the beach. On his way out he sees an old man beating his dog and cussing at it ruthlessly. Normally most people would be bothered by the fact of a man beating a small dog, but Muersault watches as if nothing bad were happening. When Meursault is at the beach he meets a girl, named Marie, which he finds very attractive. Meursault and Marie become very close. As the story progresses they begin taking part in sexual activities. Marie tells Muersault that she loves him and asks if he loves her back.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues In The Case Of Virginia And Tom

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the case of Virginia and Tom the main issue underlying marital crisis that was caused by dishonoring of vows. The case outline that Virginia has discovered that her husband Tom has been having not one, but several affairs throughout the course of their marriage. According to Tom he believes that his numerous affairs did not get in the way with his wife because these acts were not meaningful. Tom thinks that his wife should not dwell in the past because he loves her and he does not want his marriage to come to an end. Tom also, explains that he was not in a committed relationship with the women he come in contact with it was only for sex. Virginia is willing to forgive her husband, but she finds it to be difficult to continue living with him because she is aware of his extra marital affairs in the past. Virginia major concern is that her husband provides no reassurance and tries to use his action as a defensive mechanism.

    Read More

  • Relationships in "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses"

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    “As with other stories by Irwin Shaw, this one touches on the theme of lost or disappearing youth” (Archer 2). Frances is afraid that she will lose all relationships in life if she loses Michael, even with her friends that live in the country. Frances chooses to spend the whole day with Michael instead of visiting her friends, because she thinks the time alone will give them a chance to save their relationship. With Frances being so insecure, it confirms that everyone needs a relationship to feel belonging in their life.

    Read More

  • The Depiction of Male/Female Relationships in Tolstoy's War and Peace

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    The relationship shared by Pierre and Helene is best described as a lustful charade. It is no coincidence that Pierre, one of the most introspective characters in the novel, first marries a shallow, inwardly-ugly adulterer. His first recorded attitude towards Helene is one of admira...

    Read More

  • Life at Gateshead for Jane Eyre

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

    her lack of respect and how she herself views him as a person based on

    Read More

  • A Feminist Reading of the Tempest

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...n her mind is more important than his words. It is an example of the patriarchal society that they live in; although he is her father and has the parental power over her he would most likely not speak to a son in such a demeaning tone. He makes her seem to be slow, as if she cannot carry on a conversation or listen to him, which is quite demeaning.

    Read More

More about Irwin Shaw's The Girl In Their Summer Dresses

Open Document