A Wife's Story
In "A Wife's Story" written by Bharati Mukherjee, the narrator is an Indian woman named Panna who has left India to get a Ph. D. in special education in Manhattan. The story illustrates the relationship between Panna and her match-made husband who has come to visit her in Manhattan. Panna is drifting away from her husband because of the cultural changes she is going through. She has changed and he has not, thus the gap between them widens. My own marriage is not through match-making, and yet it has come to an end due to all kinds of differences that cannot be reconciled.
As husband and wife, Panna does understand him to a certain extent. Just by listening to his voice over the phone she can already figure out how he looks while he is telling her about the bombing at his workplace. She says, "I know how my husband's eyes look this minute, how the eye rim sag and the yellow corneas shine and bulge with pain" (470). She also knows that he will be fine: "Tomorrow he'll come out of it. Soon he'll be eating again. He'll sleep like a baby" (470). This is a kind of ability and understanding you develop with your spouse after living together for some time. I am able to know the mood of my spouse just by talking to him on the phone. I can easily "predict" his response and reaction too. For example, there are a few lecturers in our college that he hates because they serve as the panels for his final design thesis which he fails. Even after many years, he would be so annoyed and I know the exact bad words he would swear if someone mentions their names in front of him.
Panna also knows that her husband likes her to dress up in traditional Indian costume, so she deliberately changes out of her cotton pants and shirts and puts on a sari when she goes to the airport to meet him. She even puts on a whole set of jewelry: the marriage necklace, gold drop earrings and heavy gold bangles; accessories she does not wear often in Manhattan due to safety reason, as clearly stated in the
As husband and wife, Panna does understand him to a certain extent. Just by listening to his voice over the phone she can already figure out how he looks while he is telling her about the bombing at his workplace. She says, "I know how my husband's eyes look this minute, how the eye rim sag and the yellow corneas shine and bulge with pain" (470). She also knows that he will be fine: "Tomorrow he'll come out of it. Soon he'll be eating again. He'll sleep like a baby" (470). This is a kind of ability and understanding you develop with your spouse after living together for some time. I am able to know the mood of my spouse just by talking to him on the phone. I can easily "predict" his response and reaction too. For example, there are a few lecturers in our college that he hates because they serve as the panels for his final design thesis which he fails. Even after many years, he would be so annoyed and I know the exact bad words he would swear if someone mentions their names in front of him.
Panna also knows that her husband likes her to dress up in traditional Indian costume, so she deliberately changes out of her cotton pants and shirts and puts on a sari when she goes to the airport to meet him. She even puts on a whole set of jewelry: the marriage necklace, gold drop earrings and heavy gold bangles; accessories she does not wear often in Manhattan due to safety reason, as clearly stated in the