Sunday in the Park

The afternoon begins well. The woman, whoÆs name is never mentioned, is enjoying the sunshine as she sits by her bookish husband, Morton, and watches their son, Larry, playing in the sandbox (lines 10-12). She wants to be able to have this bit of rest and sunshine more often, to allow her husband more time outdoors, away from his academic profession (line 11). Her perfect afternoon is spoiled, however, when another little boy playing in the sandbox decides to pick on her son by throwing sand at him. Not only does the other little boy ignore her when she admonishes him, but his father apparently eggs him on by stating that itÆs a ôpublic sandboxö, implying that anyone may do as he or she pleases when in public (line 40). It is then that her husband steps in to somehow stand up for the right of his own child to play, unharassed, in the sandbox (line 58). In the end, however, Morton backs down to the more aggressive father and takes his wife and child back home, while his wife tries to explain away her disappointment to herself as he explains his actions to her.

. . .
n the responsible or civilized manner that she expects of adults. The third expectation that the woman has is that her husband will, in some ancient, chivalrous manner, rush to defend herself and their child. She demonstrates this in many unspoken ways, the first of which is glancing over at Morton (line 41) after the man tells his son to ôthrow all you want. This here is a public sandboxö (line 39-40). Secondly, the woman becomes ôsuffused with tenderness for her husbandö (line 55) after she sees his jaw tighten and feels him beginning to stand up for LarryÆs right to play in the sandbox. Third, she appears to be both repulsed and attracted to the idea of violence that might occur when she thinks ôhow dreadful, how incredibleö (line 63). At this point, she is tempted to reach out to her husband, to ôpull him downö (line 65), yet she doesnÆt. She wants to see him fight for her. Lastly, she expects her husband to at least stand up for himself, for his pride. As they leave the playground she is careful not to look at the man, and leaves ôwith all the dignity she could summonö (line 79). Her pride has been wounded and she does not admit this to herself at first, yet she does realize that this is ômore than defeat of reason by
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Expectations Expressed, Demonstrated Morton, , Emotionally Morton, WifeÆs Expectations, little boy, responsible adult, adults behave, Bel Park, expects husband stand, husband stand pride, family expectations, husband stand, unspoken assumptions, responsible civilized, behave public, sandboxö line, larry line,
Approximate Word count = 1429
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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