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Arjay D. Garlan

Mrs. Jocelyn Castro

Worlite , DMA3

18 August 2013

Literary Essay: The Wife’s Story by Ursula Le Guin

“The truly scary thing about undiscovered lies is that they have a

greater capacity to diminish us than exposed ones. They erode our strength,

our self-esteem, our very foundation,” Cheryl Hughes once quoted. In the

short-story The Wife’s Story by Ursula Le Guin, the wife who wasn’t named

believes that her husband wasn’t having any bad in him, even a little. The

wife loves her husband very much which made her unable to see the true

color of his husband. At first, the woman talks about her husband and the

reasons why she loved him but suddenly something tragic happened to the

husband so it made a love story with a sad ending. As the story progresses,

the woman presents herself as a simple wife and believing that there’s

nothing abnormal happening to her husband but suddenly this belief will

make her sorrowful.

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The wife experience the “love is blind, and lovers cannot see what

petty follies they themselves commit” quoted by Shakespeare’s book Two

Gentlemen of Verona in which she at first don’t know who or what really is

her husband. She was amazed on how his husband earlier treated his mother

nicely. They met in the forest where the man is larking and enjoying the

movement of the wind. The man stayed three-fourths of the day with her in

which the woman’s sister teases them “Well! If he’s going to be here every

day and half the night, I guess there isn’t room for me!” (Le Guin 1) after

which they lived in that house and brought children which was not stated in

the story on how many were them. The wife felt that it’s her happiest year.

Her husband has a good quality of voice giving him more and more Lodge

meeting nights. In this part the wife begun to think who or what is it the

wood that shivers her. “It brings the shivers on me now to think of it, hearing

it, nights when I’d stayed home from meeting when the children were babies

— the singing coming up through the trees there, and the moonlight,

summer nights, the full moon shining” (Le Guin 1 ) describes the time and

setting of the story which is midnight.

After what happened that night, the wife was confused on why or how

did this happen to his husband. “It was the moon, that’s what they say. It’s

the moon’s fault, and the blood. It was in his father’s blood. I never

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knew his father, and now I wonder what become of him.” (Le Guin 1) as what

is on the wife’s mind. She believes that the moon did something differently

on her husband making her frightened to shaking. In this part, the wife

wanted to really know what’s bothering or happening to her husband. “What

is that — those smells on you? (Le Guin 2) So by this question, we really

denote that the father was not doing good in terms of hygiene which are not

seen to any matured guy and can only be seen on wild animals. This thing

could lead into many possibilities on what is the father really doing.

The real evidence before seeing the father’s true form and beauty is by

the wife is their youngest, little baby who seems to be so afraid and crying

after the night the child was the first witness of his father’s transformation.

The child really doesn’t know what he/she should do at that moment of

father’s transformation. The wife, did her best to know exactly is happening

through their child but still no information has caught her attention to finally

knew the truth behind her husband.

In the evening, as they are asleep a while when something made them

to woke up. The wife see lights on the passage and look on his wife

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standing outside near the entrance. The wife was bothered on why her

husband was there. They were all shock when their man in life has change

into something as freaky as a beast.” He stood up then on two legs. I saw

him, I had to see him. My own dear love, turned in the hateful one. I couldn’t

move, but as I crouched there in the passage staring out j the day I was

trembling and shaking with a growl that burst out into a crazy.”(Le Guin 2)

Here, they can’t really move on because something strange as a beast is

standing over them. As the father saw them, he drastically moves to kill his

family with his beastly transformed body. The wives with her children inside

the house were watching as their father looked around them and yelled

aloud. The beast made the branch a weapon and run towards the plowlands

and mountainside. Her sister changed also to something animalistic. And the

families really don’t know what to do in their situation.

The pack has killed their father and this statement proves it. “ I went

up close because I thought if the thing was dead the spell, the curse must be

done, and my husband could come back —alive, or even dead, if I could only

see him, my true love, in his true form, beautiful. But only the dead man lay

there white and bloody.” (Le Guin 3) The families especially

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the wife sees this happening as a spell or curses that after, it could end the

life of their man and will remain that night as a nightmare.

Throughout the story, the wife that was so simple by having a family

makes her one of the happiest person still experience the lost and sorrow of

having a man in her life that was transformed by a beast and lately died.

Even though the wife tries to settle things good again it is now too late for

her and describes her final realization, as his husband changes at the dark of

the moon into an incredible and frightening beast. Still the wife describes

very strong feelings for her husband and did not expect wolves to have

feelings. But that is what makes this story special: The situations are exact

the same as when a human wife would describe her life with a werewolf-

husband and now it is only that it is other point of view. In the end the

husband is killed because he is different than everybody else and considered

a danger for them. This would also have happened if everybody else was

human. The fact that the father is one of the pack, they killed him because

he may bring the pack into danger and extinction if kept alive and live with

them.

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Quote Citations and References

Yevtushenko, Y.. N.p.. Web. 27 Aug 2013.

<http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/lying>.

Web. <http://www.lifepositiveway.com/2010/05/love-is-blind-quotes-

sayings.html>.

“Well! If he’s going to be here every day and half the night, I guess there

isn’t room for me!” (Le Guin 1)

“It brings the shivers on me now to think of it, hearing it, nights when I’d

stayed home from meeting when the children were babies — the singing

coming up through the trees there, and the moonlight, summer nights, the

full moon shining” (Le Guin 1 )

“It was the moon, that’s what they say. It’s the moon’s fault, and the blood.

It was in his father’s blood. I never knew his father, and now I wonder what

become of him.” (Le Guin 1)

“What is that — those smells on you? (Le Guin 2)

” He stood up then on two legs. I saw him, I had to see him. My own dear

love, turned in the hateful one. I couldn’t move, but as I crouched there in

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the passage staring out j the day I was trembling and shaking with a growl

that burst out into a crazy.”(Le Guin 2)

“ I went up close because I thought if the thing was dead the spell, the curse

must be done, and my husband could come back —alive, or even dead, if I

could only see him, my true love, in his true form, beautiful. But only the

dead man lay there white and bloody.” (Le Guin 3)