The typical teenager is never classified as the wisest of all age groups. Years of trial and error are needed for humans to grow wise and knowledgeable from their life experience. The trials and tribulations of events such as a first love can change people and shape them into the people they are today. Stories of these transitions are best displayed from the own character’s point of view. In Alice Munro’s short story How I Met My Husband, Munro uses characterization techniques and irony to reveal Edie’s growth concerning her love life and past relationships. In How I Met My Husband, Edie’s character development occurred during her experience with Chris Watters. She was naïve and making poor decisions due to her lack of experience. At this
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Munro uses an interesting technique to juxtapose the present more experienced narrator to the past less experienced character although they are the same person. The author presents the point of view of Edie looking back on her first love, the heartache of that loss, and how ironically it led her to her eventual husband. The young girl was foolish and overtaken by the desire of a mysterious older man. Edie was upset that she lied to Chris’ fiancée back then, took her man, and ultimately betrayed her. She spoke of how women should stick together, which she did not uphold back then (Munro 137). A major irony of the story was how the reader would assume that Edie and Chris would end up getting married as implicitly stated in the title: “How I Met My Husband”. However at the end, the story takes a surprising turn. Edie waited every day to hear from Chris only to be disappointed that he never would write to her. While she waited for the letter she was introduced to the mailman, Carmichael. When she finally gave up on Chris a new relationship blossomed that ended up being the love of her life. The author used irony by writing how Edie’s husband believed that she was always waiting for him at that mailbox when in all actuality; she was waiting for another man. Furthermore, this was a …show more content…
These techniques were marvelously executed throughout this short story and brought to life a story that showed that others could heavily effect developing characters, such as Edie. Munro possessed such strong writing qualities and that made her successful with this short story and many others in the 1900s. She won many awards and inspired many people to write during her time. “[p]owers received one of the prestigious Lannan Literary Awards that annually honor ‘writer of exceptional quality.’ Past winners have included… Alice Munro” (Parini 212). This particular story she wrote brought to life a fascinating story about love and life and showing that despite what they may think, teenagers have a lot to
Munro uses an interesting technique to juxtapose the present more experienced narrator to the past less experienced character although they are the same person. The author presents the point of view of Edie looking back on her first love, the heartache of that loss, and how ironically it led her to her eventual husband. The young girl was foolish and overtaken by the desire of a mysterious older man. Edie was upset that she lied to Chris’ fiancée back then, took her man, and ultimately betrayed her. She spoke of how women should stick together, which she did not uphold back then (Munro 137). A major irony of the story was how the reader would assume that Edie and Chris would end up getting married as implicitly stated in the title: “How I Met My Husband”. However at the end, the story takes a surprising turn. Edie waited every day to hear from Chris only to be disappointed that he never would write to her. While she waited for the letter she was introduced to the mailman, Carmichael. When she finally gave up on Chris a new relationship blossomed that ended up being the love of her life. The author used irony by writing how Edie’s husband believed that she was always waiting for him at that mailbox when in all actuality; she was waiting for another man. Furthermore, this was a …show more content…
These techniques were marvelously executed throughout this short story and brought to life a story that showed that others could heavily effect developing characters, such as Edie. Munro possessed such strong writing qualities and that made her successful with this short story and many others in the 1900s. She won many awards and inspired many people to write during her time. “[p]owers received one of the prestigious Lannan Literary Awards that annually honor ‘writer of exceptional quality.’ Past winners have included… Alice Munro” (Parini 212). This particular story she wrote brought to life a fascinating story about love and life and showing that despite what they may think, teenagers have a lot to