Rudy's biggest problem seems to be that he is stuck in the past. He is still living in a world where men call all of the shots and expect their women to obey. I strongly agree that this is a story about power, manipulation and control. Rudy seems to still strongly believe that he cannot really be a man or fulfill his role as a husband if he can't control his wife the way he sees fit. This shows in everything he does, right down to naming the family dog. His beliefs are so obvious because he won't even call their bird my its actual name because his wife chose the name. It seems that in order to control Arlene, he must make her feel like the lesser of the two, and they are nowhere near equal. He tries to make it clear to her that if she weren't as beautiful as she is, she wouldn't be this lucky. He makes it seem as if Arlene's beauty is the only asset she has. He makes this very clear when he says, "Look what you have, darling.... Your beauty has gotten you so much." I almost can't stand his self-righteous attitude. He thinks of his wife as nothing more than a prize he has won. He doesn't value her worth at all. He believes the only decisions she is capable of making is where they will go for vacation. Even then he has to put in his two-sense.
             I think that Arlene's self-control stems way back to when she and Rudy were in high school. She admits this in the story as well. Times are not as they used to be, although Rudy does not seem to see this yet. Arlene has dug herself in to this hole and now she can't get out. Rudy believes she is his to control, because that is the way their relationship has always been. It is so hard to break a habit like that, especially for the one who is doing the controlling. Perhaps Arlene also grew up in a household similar to the one she lives in now. She could be accustomed to this behavior because of
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