Written by: Mohammed Alrehaily

Edited by: Dr. Alaa Alghamdi

The story is about a man and a woman who promised to get married fourteen years ago. During these fourteen years, the woman, Louisa Ellis, has been busy taking care of her house on her own because she lives alone in a village with her two pets, a dog and a canary. And the man, Joe Dagget, has been on a journey for fortune in Australia. When he comes back, it seems that they still want to get married. However, Joe and another woman from the village, Lily Dyer, fell in love, but he cannot marry her because he is honorable enough to respect the promise. Later on, Lousia heard their argument about getting married and that Lily only wants Joe to be her husband. This leads Lousia to release Joe from their promise, therefore setting him free believing that she does not want to change the lifestyle she is used to.

As we can see, the short story is not your typical feminist text where women are treated in a terrible manner, meaning abuse, oppression…etc. This is a text about a woman who simply wants to maintain her lifestyle and not allow a man to disturb it, at least after knowing that this man is in love with another woman and that their marriage does not bother her that much. She follows a peaceful lifestyle that could be seen as strict. She likes everything to be in a perfect shape and order. Over the course of fourteen years, she grew fond of her solitude and immaculate domestic lifestyle that she no longer welcomes a man who seems to be threatening her well-secured way of living.

Beside being a lover of another woman, Joe’s unintentional threat to her lifestyle manifests in the following meeting where the difference between them is apparent. Lousia’s books are arranged in a certain way and she does not like for anyone to rearrange them in a new way. So, when Joe took them up and put them back, and he rearranged them, Lousia rearranged them back to their original order. He said laughing:

 “Now what difference did it make which book was on top?”

She gave him a disapproving smile and said

“I always keep them that way.” In a quiet manner.

Afterwards, when he is leaving, he stumbled over a rug and while trying to rebalance himself, he hit a basket and knocked it on the floor. She said with a bit of stiffness:

“Never mind, I’ll pick them up after you’re gone.”

It is either that she is disturbed by his actions or affected by his nervousness, thus reassured him. Shortly after he left, she fixed the place and brushed and swept his track off.

This is one difference between them among, perhaps, many others.  She is used to her own lifestyle that she is willing to part ways with him because she is afraid that he will damage it, thus disturbing her life.

If I were to examine the story from a feminist perspective, I would at least say that it features the theme of femininity vs. masculinity. The mentioned scene which was about the books and the rug, show us the difference between Lousia and Joe in terms of gender differences. She likes to live in an organized fashion and does not mind living alone. Joe, on the other hand, does not care in the slightest about living a organized life as shown before when he questioned the arrangement of Lousia’s books. This indicates that, perhaps, if they were to be together, their life would not be as easy as it should be.

One may say that how could this one difference have such a negative impact on their lives? They should get married because it is difficult to find a flawless relationship. Well, Lousia’s case is not common. Most women want to get married and live happily ever after, and most of them do not mind few problems in their lives. Also, not all women want to live alone. Not to mention that Joe is in love with another woman. Lousia seems to follow a peaceful lifestyle and it seems that no other man beside Joe is in her life. Besides, she does not seem to be having any problems living alone. So, as soon as a man came into her life after living alone for a long period of time, she felt threatened. The peaceful lifestyle she has been living was damaged as soon as a man came into contact with it. It is true that not all men are the same, but she is confident that she can continue living alone without a man in her life. She does not want to sacrifice her comfortable life to be with a man that is not destined to be with her.

Alaa Alghamdi: Associate Professor of English – Taibah University

@ayghamd