Husband

The husband of the deceased woman is only described from her point of view. We can assume he is very masculine, as he is only interested in sports and dinner. He appears pretty dull, hates art, literature and architecture, and is not interested in any kind of culture. Furthermore, he does not care about showing good manners, which is mainly linked to the facts that he constantly slams the door and wears creaking boots (the boots seem to play a significant role because they are mentioned numerous times throughout the story.) The only books he reads are railway novels and those his wife has to select for him, which shows how helpless he is without her. Another part in the story also indicates his helplessness without her because after she died someone led him into another room and “he walked vaguely, like a blind man on his creaking boots” (Lewis 13).

Bibliographie:

Lewis, R.W.B, ed. The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. Volume 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968. Print.