The Wife's Story By Ursula K. Le Guin Analysis

720 Words2 Pages

Shalyra Alleyne
Professor Sexton
English 1302-175
28 February 2017
The Hidden Figures Behind an Author and Their Writings Would one expect to be dumbfounded after finding out towards the end of a story that all the characters are actually not human, but yet the author makes the whole story seem humanized? The following occurred in “The Wife’s Story” by Ursula K. Le Guin, who focused her short story on a husband, wife, and their two children, but no names are given. The wife is telling her story about what happened with her husband. Ursula formats her theme as being misleading as she plays with the readers mind but then reveals the truth towards the end of the story. The story begins with a woman telling how she noticed her husband and his personality before getting married. She tells of his values and his place as a member of the community. She then proceeds to mention that he’s well liked and a wonderful father, determined, diligent, big, and handsome. She saw him as being perfect but unexpectedly she began to notice he would disappear in the middle of the night and come back hours later smelling oddly. When asked where he had been, he’d give her weird responses for disappearing and his …show more content…

In the article “Ursula K. Le Guin and translation” by Ria Cheyne, she states “Translation is also a recurring metaphor in both her fiction and critical work…” (Paragraph 2). Ursula uses short sentences and improper grammar in her writings. For example she uses many short sentences in this story such as “And so did I” (Le Guin 355), “Because he knew, I guess” (Le Guin 355), and “So we got to talking that day” (Le Guin 354). If you have read at least two of her writings you would find out she somewhat has incomplete thoughts, which is where the short sentences come into place. There are some things in this story that are described in great detail but others are mentioned in

Show More
Related

  • Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Good Wives: Book Analysis

    2336 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the book Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich attempts to highlight the role of women that was typical during this particular time period. During this point in history in hierarchal New England, as stated both in Ulrich’s book and “Give Me Liberty! An American History” by Eric Foner, ordinary women were referred to as “goodwives” (Foner 70). “A married woman in early New England was simultaneously a housewife, a deputy husband, a consort, a mother, a mistress, a neighbor, and a Christian” and possibly even a heroine (Ulrich 9). While it is known that women were an integral part of economic and family life in the colonies during this time, Ulrich notes that it is unlikely

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado and went to Stanford University. He volunteered to be used for an experiment in the hospital because he would get paid. In the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Kesey brings up the past memories to show how Bromden is trying to be more confident by using those thoughts to make him be himself. He uses Bromden’s hallucinations, Nurse Ratched’s authority, and symbolism to reveal how he’s weak, but he builds up more courage after each memory.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Midwife's Tale By Martha Ballard

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Martha Ballard was a midwife in Hallowell, Maine in the early eighteenth century. She is the author of the diary that inspired A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Martha Ballard was an extremely busy woman with her medical duties and was very serious about being a midwife. Nothing was trivial to Martha she was serious about her work and community. She was an independent woman of her time and valued her autonomy. Her job highlighted how compassionate and caring she was towards her community. She never turned anyone away, and she would help anyone in need regardless of race, social rank, or economic standing. She relied on her connections to the people in the community in many ways. Martha was a pillar of her community because of her

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ruth Padawin's 'Sisterhood Is Complicated'

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is Gender the same thing as Sex? This topic is complicated because many people confuse these two as the same thing but they are very two different things. There are several Cultural Myths about Gender and Sex. Gary Colombo, who wrote: “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths” who explains that a cultural myth is a shared set of customs, values, ideas, and beliefs, as well as a common language. In “Sisterhood is Complicated” by Ruth Padawer who is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, focusing on gender and social issues in “Sisterhood is Complicated” she shows many of the Stereotypes about Gender and Sex and how they are unmistakably just cultural myths. It also has how there are positives being trans at an all women

    Read More

  • Urban Legend of Cry Baby Bridge

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    About thirty years ago there was a young girl in love with her boyfriend. One day, he convinced her to take their relationship to the next level, telling her how deeply he cared. A couple weeks later, she found out that she had become pregnant, and decided it was best to hide it from him. They kept in close contact over the next few months, and he told her that they would be together forever. When her father realized that she was having a baby without marriage, he made her leave the house until she came back with a husband. When the baby girl was born, she decided to tell the boyfriend about the child, by bringing her to his house. He lived on a small farm right outside town and you had to pass over a small river on a bridge to get back to his house. As she opened the door, she walked in on him with another girl. Filled with anger, (pause) she gets in her car and speeds off. Now she could not return home unmarried and had lost her only love because of this one child. As she looked over at the baby, she is only reminded of her boyfriend and the image of him with the other girl. (tone increases) Finally, she reached the bridge, then slammed on the breaks. She got out and in a moment of rage threw the baby over the bridge to rid her of the baby girl’s troubles. Later that night, the police were tipped off about a murder at the bridge and came to find the girl hanging from the bridge.

    Read More

  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Analytical Essay

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    The use of theme in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey brings upon the ideas of misogyny, sexual repression and freedom, and salvation from an omnipotent oppressor, through the story of Chief Bromden, who lives in an insanity ward. Even from the beginning pages of the novel, the reader is introduced to such characters as Nurse Ratched, or the “Big Nurse,” who is said to be the dictator of the ward and acts upon the ward with the utmost control. Another branch of the theme of oppressors and salvation that relates to Nurse Ratched, as well as Randle McMurphy, is the idea that they are both representatives of figures based in Catholicism. Sexual repression and freedom is seen with the ultimate punishment in the ward, a lobotomy, being stated as equivalent to castration. Both of the operations are seen as emasculating, removing the men’s personal freedom, individuality, and sexual expression, and reducing them to a child-like state. All of these different pieces of the theme relates to a powerful institution that, because of the advances of the time, such as technology and civil rights for women, is causing men to be common workers without distinctive thoughts that must fit the everyday working mold of the 1950s.

    Read More

  • Of Mice And Men Curley's Wife Analysis

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a world dominated by men, how will one woman fight the animosity of others just to find a friend? John Steinbeck's celebrated novel Of Mice and Men explores this theme of loneliness in the backdrop of the Great Depression, centering on the unrelenting friendship of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small. While the focus is on the duo's comradery, the reader sees glimpses of other characters who are equally as compelling. One of whom is Curley's Wife. Within this story, Steinbeck excellently crafts a tragic figure whose backstory reveal, search for companionship, and two-sided interactions with various characters - particularly Lennie - pave the way for a harrowing character arc that ends on a gruesome note.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Lorna Jean Crozier's Watching My Lover

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    With a shock of dyed red hair, statement glasses, and colourful sweaters, Lorna Jean Crozier dresses as eccentric as she writes. Although she never considered writing as a career when she was young, at 68 she has authored 15 books. Crozier has lived everywhere from Victoria to Toronto, but to me, her poetry shows that her heart has never left the Saskatchewan Prairies where she was born. Her works often showcase her interests, including cats, gardening, and sex--sometimes rolled together.

    Read More

  • The Cranes

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although their love has endured through many years, it has come to an end in the story. All throughout the story the couple is reminiscing about their life and while they are there are some odd details that are strewn throughout.

    Read More

  • dante

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ered from postpartum depression, but in the 19th century it was unknown disease. Both husbands in each story resembled each other because they controlled their lives. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator’s husband had control over her physically and mentally. In The Story of an Hour, Mr. Mallard had power over her body and soul. In the end Mrs. Mallard and the narrator both gained control of their own lives without the control of their husbands. Mrs. Mallard and the narrator both express they want to be free, but unfortunately they achieve freedom through insanity and death.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of To A Daughter Leaving Home By Linda Pastan

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show the ambivalence between the parents and the children.

    Read More

  • The Four Girls By Julia Alvarez Analysis

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    We all experience losses as we grow older in life. These losses are usually about our physical or inner self. However, sometimes these losses could be about how our relationships with others have been lost or changed due to growing up. For example, in the story How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, four sisters suffer or experience losses as a result of growing up into older young women. All this started when the four sisters moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic at a young age. This affects the four sisters because they encounter problems or obstacles as they age into young adults. For instance, Julia Alvarez shows that growing up is a process of losing respect, sanity, and a loving friend.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Anne In Anne Of Green Gables

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    Orphans are often forced to mature faster than any other child. Often, they are exploited and used for their labor at a young age, ridding them of any potential childhood. Moreover, orphans lack a sense of belonging and have trouble relying on anybody other than themselves because the people they loved broke the only trust they knew, this leads to an isolation among them and a struggle with social development. Throughout the texts and films such as Anne of Green Gables, Orphan Train, Sidekicks, and The Outsiders we see specific examples of how orphans are expected to behave more maturely than children who grow up in a secure family setting.

    Read More

  • The Treatment of Marriage in Two Literary Works

    2244 Words  | 5 Pages

    The short stories “Souls Belated” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” have in common ‘Marriage’ as main theme. However, the marriage is treated quite differently in both short stories. In "Souls Belated", Lydia chooses to take control of her destiny, to deviate from conventions and to choose what is good for her. She is the strongest character of the couple. Whereas, in "The Yellow Wallpaper", the name of the main character who is also the narrator of the story is not known. She is identified as being John’s wife. This woman, contrary to Lydia in "Souls Belated" is completely locked up in her marriage. This essay will first describe and compare the characters of Lydia and John's wife in the context of marriage, and then it will look at how marriage is described, treated and experienced by couples in these two short stories.

    Read More

  • A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri is a short story explaining how these short relationships can fall apart so quick. The couple, Shukumar and Shoba have a very complicated relationship. Shukumar works at home on his dissertation while Shoba works gets up every morning and goes to work. Previously the couple lost a child right after it was born, which hurt the couple. After this event this couple hardly talked, became experts on avoiding each other, and grew distant. They then have a problem that ends up making them have to talk to each other more then they did. They are reminded about how they used to be and start to grow closer, revealing things about themselves. But then it all ends with Shoba telling her husband that she found an apartment. This stops the couple from getting closer. Shukumar then reveals his secret about the baby and removes a mystery that Shoba wanted to keep a mystery. This story ends with the couple crying in the dark but the reader can infer that the couple breaks up after this story.

    Read More

More about The Wife's Story By Ursula K. Le Guin Analysis

Open Document