Journal #3- "The Wife"

Irving’ short story, “The Wife”, emphasizes an importance on the value of marriage and women in American culture, relaying the power of the two to overcome any and everything else in life, like economic downturns for example. Irving spends much of the story describing the comforting and soothing nature of the woman counteracting the strong exterior and harshness of men and how that helps to give support to the patriarchal husband figure and head of the household back in the 19^th century, “… so it is beautifully ordered by Providence, that women, who is mere dependent and ornament of man in his calamity, winding herself in the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart”. He continues on to depict the high importance of subordinate women as being the main motivation of a man’s striving for success, “because they are more stimulated to exertion by the necessities of the helpless and beloved beings who depend upon them for subsistence.” Further into the story, Irving writes of a family being lowered in social status due to a loss of the husband’s wealth. The husband is practically mentally incapacitated by the fear of revealing the bad news to his wife in fear of her response to the drastic change in their lifestyle. This is a prime example of the heavy emphasis American’s of that time placed on economic stability and social standings. However, Irving chooses to resolve this problem by having the “loving and endearing” wife be acceptable with the lifestyle change and revel in the power of her love for her husband and the prospect that their lesser way of living will only draw them closer to each other and deeper in love, overcoming everything else.