Analysis of The Astronomers Wife by Kay Boyle :: Astronomers Wife Kay Boyle Essays Papers

Analysis of The Astronomers Wife by Kay BoyleIn the Astronomers Wife by Kay Boyle, something as simple as aconversation with a plumber about a stop elbow joint is enough to trigger anawakening in Mrs. Katherine Ames. When Mrs. Ames realized that the plumber was public lecture about something she unders likewised (the stopped elbow), she realized thather marital problems were not the leave al ane of a division betwwen the sexesinstead, she realized that some men, like the plumber, are as practical as sheis, and that some other men, like her preserve, scorn pack like her becausethey are intellectually inclined. Previous to this discovery, Katherine did notrealize that on that point were different kinds of men, and therefore she did notrealize that she and her husband were mismatched. Furthermore, in her awakening,Mrs. Ames likewise discovers that she, like the plumber, occupies as valuable a billet in order as the astronomer, for she does the dirty work to free peoplelike her hu sband to have time to think and to discover.The scene in question takes place after Mrs. Ames has already noticed thatthe plumber has a few corporeal characteristics that match her own (such asblond hair), and she is talking to him as he descends into the earth. The scenebegins immediately after the plumber says I think something has stopped theelbow, because this phrase was one of the few things that a man has of all time saidthat Mrs. Ames has understood. After the plumber has descended into the groundbefore the scene, Mrs. Ames is the only one left. She spends the entireduration of this scene sitting on the grass, silently thought and revealing herthoughts to the audience.During her course of thinking, Mrs. Ames makes the important discovery thatthere is a safe and sound race of practical people like herself, men and women alike.She knew that when her husband wheel spoke of height, having no sense of it, shecould not picture it nor hear, but fishily enough, when another man whohappened to be a plumer spoke of his work, madness in a daily shape, as elbowstopped, she saw clearly and vigorous. Mrs Ames finally realized during thesethoughts that these were two men with two different shipway of life, and perhapsher way of life suited the plumbers more than the astronomers, in that she toocould identify only with daily concerns. The division between people in hermind was no longer just between men and women it was promptly the working and thethinking, those who had always gone up, and others who went down, like the