The Country Husband: Who is Francis Weed?
             After a near brush with death in a plane crash, Francis Weed's life is about to change. In the short story "The Country Husband" we are led through a period of time in the life of Francis Weed, a husband, father, and neighbor in the perfect town of Shady Hill. A series of events sends Weed into a mental and emotional struggle that threatens to change the roles he fills and test his inhibition. Francis Weed proves himself to be a man of weakness and also resilience.
             Our "Country Husband" Francis Weed is a middle-aged man who served in World War 2 and is now living in a post war society, a society that has shaped him into the conventional family man, fitting the "Ozzie and Harriet" type mold. At the beginning of the story Francis is in a plane crash, taking him through a near death experience. Upon his return home he attempts to inform his family of the event, but with no luck. He arrives into family chaos already in progress with not so much as a hello from anyone. How does this make him feel? How would this make anyone feel? His family's inability to understand the dark moments he has and is enduring in his life leaves him disconnected from them. Francis proclaims, " that he must be understood..." (Cheever 26)
             He often relives memories from his days in the war with great distaste, remembering how dark its events were. Thoughts and memories of a war he keeps to himself for fear of unsettling anyone who may not understand. Sitting quaintly at a dinner party, he has a memory he wishes he could share but he stops himself and thinks, "He could not tell anyone, and if he told the story now it would be a social as well as human error. The people in the Farquasons living room seemed united in their tactic claim that their had been no past, no war-that there was no danger or trouble in the world."(Cheever 28)...