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The Astronomer's Wife (Kay Boyle)

In today's society, Katherine Ames, the protagonist of Kay Boyle's short story "The Astronomer's Wife," would be called an emotionally abused wife. In the time the story was written, however, she would be seen as just carrying out her role as the passive helpmate wife. Katherine exhibits low self-esteem and appears to perceive man as woman's master, protector and provider. The story's antagonist is Katherine's astronomer husband, a man concerned only with himself and the stars, who displays disdain and scorn for his wife. Upon meeting a different kind of man, the plumber who comes to fix a leak in the Ames' vacation house, Katherine comes to understand that not all men are alike, and that she can liberate herself from the diffident role she has been playing throughout her married life, a role that has made her fearful and unhappy.

The language Boyle uses to characterize Katherine describes her as a weak woman unable to assert herself. In the opening paragraph of the story the words "falter," "gentle," "warily," and "quivering flesh" define Katherine as someone who is tiptoeing through her life, "without reflection like every other day" (57). She has little sense of self, so when the plumber comes and she has to tell him about the problem (her husband is sleeping late and isn't available to explain the problem), she introduces herself several times as "Mrs. Ames," not Katherine Ames, "spoken soft as a willow weeping" (57). Her discussion with the plumber, a man who deals "as does a woman with matters under hand," takes the time to explain everything to her, treating her as an intelligent person, which gives her a sense of self, and an identity as an individual; it also makes her realize she and her husband are mismatched. She takes the plumber up on his invitation to go "down" and look at the plumbing problem. The story would have been more relevant to me if it had begun after Katherine emerges from under the earth to real life. Wh...

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The Astronomer's Wife (Kay Boyle). (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:50, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702844.html