It’s a story about a grateful wife and a helpful husband. It embodies the relationship problem between the couple through portraying the wife’s subtle psychological change. In the beginning, the wife was grateful to marry to a man who let her work. What’s more, all she has to do is asked, the husband would say with a smile. But after days and nights，when the grateful wife looks back at the time with her husband, she finds that this is not her ideal life. The problem is that the husband is too dutiful and lack initiative. The only thing between them is polite manners. However, she has an entirely different concept of a relationship between husband and wife. She expects her husband to help with many problems and to share certain responsibilities, like cooking, doing housework, and caring for the children. These things shouldn’t be motivated by need but should be taken as an equal responsibility in homemaking.
In the passage, there’re some sentences can express the wife’s psychological change.
From the series of psychological change, it’s not difficult to find out that the wife’s view of her own values and the relationship with her husband has changed. She doesn’t want to be subordinate to her husband. She prefers a relaxed life, and a harmonious relationship with her husband. What’s more, she longs for her husband to have more thinking and initiative.
There’re some other specifics can reflect the wife’s psychology.
For example, paragraph 19, the first sentence, this sentence indicates that the wife feel tired from her life. She shoulders too much responsibility in this family. She wants to hand some over to her husband.
A happy family should be with the management of both the wife and the husband. Both of them should share certain responsibilities without please and thank you, because it’s the obligation as a member of a family. The husband should also do some housework without being asked, and remember some specifics of life. The wife can also work outside and have their social life splendid. Only sharing can couples be considerate of each other.
In paragraph 3, there’s a mention of the multiple choice of the mid 60’s. (注释3) In paragraph 5, the author mentioned that women in the late 60’s had consciousness-raising groups. So we can learn about the marriage pattern in Western societies before the 1960’s is that the wife was expected to stay at home as a housewife, raise children and do housework. And the husband was expected to work outside and earn a living.
Another phrase, in paragraph10 on page 197, P’s and Q’s.,