The feeling of entrapment that may come with marriage over what is expected of her by society and the pressure of her work, Young Woman is faced with making the decision whether or not to accept the proposal. Although she feels stuck in her job, she remains unsure that marriage would provide her with an escape from it. She is forced to make a decision based on the better of two evils as far as she is concerned. In considering her options, Young Woman tries to convince herself that the marriage is the correct choice, “Do you get used to it –after a while it doesn’t matter? Or don’t you? Does it always matter? You ought to be in love […] that changes everything, doesn’t it? (18). Rather than being happy at the prospect of marriage, she is miserable.
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She lies in the hospital, refusing to speak or react beyond simple movements, while everyone around her offers their opinions about life and how she will live and feel now that she has a child. The nurse, when realizing that Young Woman is unhappy, tells her "you 'll feel different when it begins to nurse. You 'll just love it then" (27). Despite Young Woman being clearly dissatisfied and unfulfilled with having a child, the nurse 's advice is still that she will feel maternal eventually as that is society wants for all mothers as if it comes naturally to every woman. By dismissing any deeper negative emotion, since all women are supposed to be happy mothers, it is assumed then Young Woman will be too. This in and of itself is mechanical. It does not make sense, and again is cold in its lack of consideration of the individual or their actual feelings. Her husband, again, showing his lack of sensitivity tells her "everybody 's got to 'brace up and face things!" (28), He, like the nurse, believes that everyone 's experience can be generalized and therefore easy to dismiss Young Woman 's actual feelings towards childbirth and becoming a mother. The emotions boil over for Young Woman, and through her fragmented thoughts she shows how awful she is feeling, repeating to "let me alone - let me alone- I …show more content…
The conversation between her and her husband is stilted and sounds like they have it every night. The husband observes in interacting with his wife that "you flinched when I touched you [...] You haven 't done that in a long time [...] You used to do it every time I touched you" (54). He recognizes that she was avoiding his touch, yet he did not even consider talking to her about it. Instead, he just continued living their married life as though it was normal, like it did not signal anything. Again, he is forcing her into the societal mold, the routine common of everyone else, ignoring an important signal about who Young Woman is as a human. Their married life is as awful as she had imagined it would be. In many ways, her husband continues to force the accepted model of life onto her, even with signs of her
She lies in the hospital, refusing to speak or react beyond simple movements, while everyone around her offers their opinions about life and how she will live and feel now that she has a child. The nurse, when realizing that Young Woman is unhappy, tells her "you 'll feel different when it begins to nurse. You 'll just love it then" (27). Despite Young Woman being clearly dissatisfied and unfulfilled with having a child, the nurse 's advice is still that she will feel maternal eventually as that is society wants for all mothers as if it comes naturally to every woman. By dismissing any deeper negative emotion, since all women are supposed to be happy mothers, it is assumed then Young Woman will be too. This in and of itself is mechanical. It does not make sense, and again is cold in its lack of consideration of the individual or their actual feelings. Her husband, again, showing his lack of sensitivity tells her "everybody 's got to 'brace up and face things!" (28), He, like the nurse, believes that everyone 's experience can be generalized and therefore easy to dismiss Young Woman 's actual feelings towards childbirth and becoming a mother. The emotions boil over for Young Woman, and through her fragmented thoughts she shows how awful she is feeling, repeating to "let me alone - let me alone- I …show more content…
The conversation between her and her husband is stilted and sounds like they have it every night. The husband observes in interacting with his wife that "you flinched when I touched you [...] You haven 't done that in a long time [...] You used to do it every time I touched you" (54). He recognizes that she was avoiding his touch, yet he did not even consider talking to her about it. Instead, he just continued living their married life as though it was normal, like it did not signal anything. Again, he is forcing her into the societal mold, the routine common of everyone else, ignoring an important signal about who Young Woman is as a human. Their married life is as awful as she had imagined it would be. In many ways, her husband continues to force the accepted model of life onto her, even with signs of her