JOURNAL #3

Washington Irving’s short story, “The Wife”, is a period short story about wives, children, and family. It is a pretty good representation of how men thought of women during the time. In his short story, Irving describes how women should act and be with their husbands. At the beginning of the story, Irving describes the woman as “the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier hours…” (526). Later in the story, Irving begins to discuss a tale of a friend of his and his wife and their journey from riches to rags. This story 100% shows how men thought of women. This poor man had to lose everything and his wife stood by him through it all, not changing her kind heart or resenting him. But every time this friend would talk of her, he would feel bad for her and say she doesn’t understand what is coming next. The husband is underestimating the strength of his wife, and probably all women in general! This story also shows how important money was in this time. The man described by Irving was clearly very wealthy. And then suddenly, all was taken from him. He lost his house, I am assuming his job, and he had to break the news to his wife that they would soon be “beggars”. It just proves that this time period was all about where you were on the social level and how much money you had to show off!