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 about 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 the children and called them "poor little mice" and "hungry little monkeys" (215). She manipulatively stopped her husband, without any hesitation, from giving something to those children.
             One of the symbols used by Mansfield to represent the wife's femininity is the parasol. 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. She also insists to get the parasol herself down the road. This shows that she has the authority of whether or not to use her womanly rights, to use them whenever she thinks she needs them. The author also suggests that the wife uses lengthy sentences to express every opposition to her husband. With the husband's offer to use the parasol to protect her from the dusty wind, she angrily refuses because she's "far, far too exhausted to hold up a parasol"(215) and adds more complaints towards the wind. Instead of just saying direct words of...