ENG1141
Creative Writing
Formal Critique
Reviewer’s Name: Marina Malak
Title of Piece: The Wife’s Story Author’s Name: Ursula K. Leguin
Point of View:
The story is told from the wife’s point of view, I like how she began describing her loving and sweet husband and mentioning the beginning of their relationship and how he changed throughout the years. The wife describes her shock and disbelieve of what happened to her husband and how she could never see any “mean bone” in him as he was so sweet and responsible for others.
Plot:
The exposition of the story was how sweet the husband was to his mother and how quiet and loving he seemed that the wife is the one who actually approached him. I like how the author mentions the moon as a foreshadowing. The rising action started as the wife noticed the absence of her husband night after night, then the children began to notice him and his smell started grabbing the wife’s attention. I like how the author set up the story that the reader could predict what is going to happen but the wife still does not know. The climax is when the wife saw the husband transform and actually started attacking her and the children. The resolution was when the sister killed the husband.
Voice & Style:
I enjoyed reading the story from the description of the wife; it made me see what was happening, for example the moon and the darkness. The wife kept saying” it was the moon”. I like the use of “hunting trip” and how it had double meaning in the story.
Character:
The husband’s character was told from the wife’s perspective; we can tell that he was caring, loving, quiet, and respectful to his wife. The husband had a dark side to him that I felt when he said “ I am going to a hunting trip”, it could that mean he was aware of what he was doing. The character of the wife was more outgoing than the husband, she was the one that made the first moves on him, she loved him deeply. I think that the wife was completely in denial even when she saw all the strange things that were happening; her love to her husband made her ignore it.
Questions:
When did the wife start to notice the absence of her husband?
Did the sister know about the husband before the wife, why did the sister come back?
Did the sister or anyone get hurt by the transformed husband?
Was the husband aware that he was attacking his wife, if yes then why, if no then does he have any memory of what he does?
Hey Marina, I completely agree with how the way that she described her husband’s actions throughout the whole story and the way it is said allows the reader to see it for themselves. I also agree with your question as to the sisters role in all of this. Was she aware of everything that was going on? And did she call her sister the day before or did she just happen to be there? It gives the reader a reason to want to read more.
The husband’s character was one of the things I enjoyed the description of a lot. The wife definitely saw his actions through rise tinted lens but that was understandable from the description of him that we got earlier on in the story. It’s clear he didn’t want his family to know about his were-humanness but I am curious as to what the reason was. Besides them killing him like they did at the end of the story
Hello Marina,
I agree when you said that the wife was in denial of her husbands actions and changing personality. She did not want to address it or delve deeper to find out what was going on even though she was aware of that situation. And she probably did that because she loved him so much and did not want to know anything bad.
Hello Marina,
I agree when you said that the wife was in denial of her husbands actions and changing personality. She did not want to address it or delve deeper to find out what was going on even though she was aware of that situation. And she probably did that because she loved him so much and did not want to know anything bad.