The story I chose is Astronomer's Wife written by Kay Boyle and I believe the theme of this story is focused on the portrayals of people who desire for significance and love in a chaos-filled world. After reading a few stories in the text, I found this one very interesting and every line had an important meaning to it. Throughout the story, emotional control kept popping up in my mind and it was only right to base my theme off that. Katherine Ames is plain and uninteresting, yet obedient to her husband, an astronomer. Her days always consist of waking up and completing various house chores. She is consumed with her housework which gives her a purpose while her husband ignores her all day. It is very clear that there is tension within the marriage
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Ames prefers her husband’s silence to him actually speaking to her. His silence reminds her constantly of his superiority. Her mental and emotional state, as a result, is identified by confusion, frustration and loneliness. “But whenever the astronomer gave voice to the thoughts that soared within him, she returned in gratitude to the long expanses of his silence. Desert-like they stretched behind and before the articulation of his scorn” (Boyle). Whenever Mr. Ames seems to pay Mrs. Ames attention, which comes at unpredictable times, she valued the moments. The isolation is what she compares to being "desert-like", going on for lengths of time with no end. This quote exemplifies the dysfunction of their marriage, and the heartache Mrs. Ames suffers as a result of it. She wishes to take priority to his work, but he's too wrapped up to notice his own actions. The plumber, a man of sensitivity, holds out a metaphoric hand to rescue her. At first, he is blunt in discussing the plumbing problem; however, after hearing Mr. Ames’s humiliating his wife, he feels bad for Mrs. Ames and anger toward her husband. Gradually, she grows more aware of him as a man and realizes that he is entirely different from her husband. When she consciously decides to go down into the drains with the plumber, she frees herself from the restraint that her husband has forced on her. Love, hope, and meaning have come back into her
Ames prefers her husband’s silence to him actually speaking to her. His silence reminds her constantly of his superiority. Her mental and emotional state, as a result, is identified by confusion, frustration and loneliness. “But whenever the astronomer gave voice to the thoughts that soared within him, she returned in gratitude to the long expanses of his silence. Desert-like they stretched behind and before the articulation of his scorn” (Boyle). Whenever Mr. Ames seems to pay Mrs. Ames attention, which comes at unpredictable times, she valued the moments. The isolation is what she compares to being "desert-like", going on for lengths of time with no end. This quote exemplifies the dysfunction of their marriage, and the heartache Mrs. Ames suffers as a result of it. She wishes to take priority to his work, but he's too wrapped up to notice his own actions. The plumber, a man of sensitivity, holds out a metaphoric hand to rescue her. At first, he is blunt in discussing the plumbing problem; however, after hearing Mr. Ames’s humiliating his wife, he feels bad for Mrs. Ames and anger toward her husband. Gradually, she grows more aware of him as a man and realizes that he is entirely different from her husband. When she consciously decides to go down into the drains with the plumber, she frees herself from the restraint that her husband has forced on her. Love, hope, and meaning have come back into her