The Husband and Wife in
The husband and wife in Katherine Mansfield's "The Escape" depict consistently their contrasting emotional approaches to the environment that can determine who is in control of their marriage. Mansfield notes that the wife constantly displayed impulsive, negative reactions to her surroundings that make her dominant over her husband. "It was his fault, wholly and solely his fault..." the narrator says as the wife in the story puts all the blame on her husband if they miss the train (Mansfield 213). This shows that the wife is already upset during her self-talk of what her husband could have done to be on time at the train. Even though it's unnecessary, the wife makes an apology for her husband's "absurd and ridiculous way" (213) of saying to the driver to hasten the driving. The author also gives hints that the wife doesn't love children when she sees them as "hideous children waving from the windows" at the station (213). Even though they made an effort to please her with flowers, the wife is annoyed with children and called them as "
In fact, the husband quickly "had his hand in his trouser pocket" (215) to show that he appreciates the little children who threw flowers in their carriage. One of the symbols used by Mansfield to represent the wife's femininity is the parasol. Mansfield determines who is in control of their marriage by consistently indicating the husband and wife's contrasting emotional approaches to the environment. She manipulatively stopped her husband, without any hesitation, from giving something to those children. Instead of just saying direct words of don't in stopping his husband from smoking, she goes around and tells it indirectly at first. He constantly stayed silent the moment his wife starts to oppose him. The husband just "saw the queer shock on the children's faces" (215) when he is warned by his wife and manipulatively hesitated to give them a reward. She also insists to get the parasol herself down the road. The narrator associates this submissiveness when "he tried to struggle to tear at it, and at the same moment - all was over" (218). poor little mice" and "hungry little monkeys" (215). I forgot" (216) are used by the husband as opposed to lengthy sentences of the wife's complaints. The husband submits himself to the wife with his passive reactions to his surroundings. The wife thinks of the parasol to protect her from the heat of the sun but she refused to use it later from the dusty wind.
Common topics in this essay:
Mansfield's Escape,
reactions surroundings,
,
hideous children,
impulsive negative reactions,
emotional approaches environment,
contrasting emotional approaches,
negative reactions surroundings,
station 213,
miss train,
angrily refuses,
218 husband,
negative reactions,
dusty wind,
impulsive negative,
wife upset,
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Acceptance Essays
