A Season Of Divorce Summary

The selection is entitled A Season of Divorce written by John Cheever. The short story had a dramatic storyline which includes a love triangle. According to Amber Pauleen, a writer and copyeditor, the author was inspired to write this story when his wife refused to dance with him and drove him to jealousy. Likewise, he loves and understands domesticity but he often criticizes his wife when she works out of the house. The purpose of this paper is to identify the persona, the character that caught my eye, the climactic plot, the metaphor of the selection and my thoughts and insights regarding the story.
In the selection, A Season of Divorce, the persona is Ethel’s husband. It can be proven when he says “Ethel and I have been married for ten years” …show more content…
She lives a modest life with her family. Although she is well-educated and qualified to get a profession, for she “graduated from a women’s college in the East, and then went for a year to the University of Grenoble” (paragraph two, line one), she is a homemaker, choosing to take care of her home, husband and children. As shown in paragraph one, line six, her marriage “…always seemed happy and resourceful” but in the third paragraph, line seven, “… she stands in the middle of the room as if she has lost or forgotten something”. She seems lost and confused despite her husband thinking that everything is okay. He knows all her moves and actions but doesn’t know her true feelings and …show more content…
Trencher reveals to Ethel his love for her, she tells her husband “He’s made his declaration. He loves me” (paragraph two, line two). The husband brushes it off, thinking it is only a comical mistake. Sadly, he was mistaken. On a Sunday night, Dr. Trencher appeared at their home. He told him that he loved his wife and couldn’t live without her but respected him, his home and children. The husband was enraged at this declaration, as shown in page eight, line two, “‘Get out of here!’ I said. ‘Get the hell out of here!’”. The confrontation between the two men was filled with many exciting emotions – rage, distraught, and exhilaration, which unfolds a dramatic scene that hits straight to the core making the selection more memorable. Furthermore, sometimes love is not enough to keep a relationship, especially marriage, strong. In matrimony, couples vow to love each other for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do them part but a number of this end in separation. Indeed love is important but there are also other factors that keep a marriage strong. Ethel never really seemed happy in the midst of her routine-like life. She had a schedule, a commitment that she fulfilled all the time but at the end of the day she would stand in the middle of her living room reflecting her life