Katherine Brush's Short Story 'Birthday Party'

Claire Li
English 9A Period 4
13 September 2016
Birthday Party: Self Image versus Kindness
Katherine Brush’s short story, “Birthday Party”, speaks about a middle-aged couple who struggle with their relationship. This story takes place in a little cafe, nestled in the corner of a building. At first, everything is fine, but later, the married couple’s attitudes start to change for the worse. The author uses their attitudes to demonstrate the idea of self-image versus kindness and relationships. In a world where people have opinions based off what they see each other as, an overly self-conscious person may act selfish in a controlling way.
In the beginning of the story, the man appears arrogant. This is shown when the man and his wife are sitting
It is the husband’s birthday and his wife had prepared a surprise for him. This surprise came in the form of a “small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle” (2). The text states that he got a small cake, reinforcing the idea that he is not rich. In addition, the quote states that there was one pink candle atop the cake. Firstly, he had one candle, showing the public once again, that he lacked money. Next, the color of the candle probably offended and humiliated him because pink was considered a feminine color as this story was published in 1946. At that time, gender stereotypes were very significant and the wife gave the man a pink candle, embarrassing him. The man’s humiliation proves that he cared about his own image more than someone’s good
After the man got his cake, he felt extremely humiliated by its color and size so he said something demeaning to his wife. “I saw him say something to her under his breath—some punishing thing” (3). This word punishing implies quite clearly that he is blaming his wife for her surprise and how it made him look bad in front of the public. Also, the fact that he said it under his breath imposes that he does not want other people to know that he is acting this way toward his wife. The husband is disappointed in his birthday surprise, so he waited until everyone looked away, then said something mean. Later, the wife was crying to herself silently over something that should have been a happy occasion but turned sour. This proves that the husband is selfish as he does not focus and appreciate what his wife is trying to do, and only cares about what happens to him. In addition, he does not care if his actions lead another person, even his wife, to misery, as long as he managed to justify himself. Because of the man’s reaction to the cake his wife got him for his birthday, it demonstrates that he is selfish as he care only about how other people see him, even if it means justifying himself while putting down others. In the short story “Birthday Party”, Katherine Brush shows how the concealed theme: how self-image versus relationships affect a lot of people. In this case, the husband criticizes his wife for doing something that