Naumova Anna БЛГ-20-16

STUDY NOTES 2
1. This text shows and reveals some ideas:

- Idea of mental and physical health

This idea is revealed throughout the text. The main character, who is the narrator, shows us not
only the consequences of hysterical paralysis, but also obvious problems in the shattered psyche.
Her constant stories about her husband can show her fear and weakness. She always repeats that
she loves him, but is it true?

- Idea of relationship
The idea of relationship is strongly linked to the idea of mental and physical health. It is during a
long marriage with Piers that the main character finds so many fears: she is silent about the use of
Valium, behaves around him only in a certain way and has an unchanging opinion about him, in her
head there are strict beliefs that her husband is perfect, the rest simply can’t understand it. This is
not normal. This woman is silent, sitting with her husband in the car, she desperately convinces her
psychiatrist that the way Piers drives is absolutely normal, and French drivers are just rude and
aggressive on the road.

- Idea of dependence
The main character is significantly dependent on her husband. She is afraid the he will leave her.
So she was as silent as a mouse, she’s never disturbed him. And every time she says that their
marriage is forever, she tries to convince not herself, but all the people around her.

- Idea of illusion
The heroine throughout the work builds illusions about her ideal husband. He's amazingly smart
because he's a Nobel Prize winner. His wife believes that every great man has a woman behind
him. But, unfortunately, she is an obedient, obsequious and silent woman, considering her husband
really great. Except that Piers doesn't really count with his wife. Throughout the story, we do not see
him showing affection to her, saying that he loves her. This demonstrates that a woman comes up
with a lot of things about her marriage.

- Idea of fear
The idea of fear is shown sporadically. The wife is afraid to say anything to Pierce while he is
driving, does not try to hurry him when choosing wine or melon, does not stop him from boring in
the restaurant. This woman is afraid to contradict him. She does not express her true feelings,
which she mentions only at the very end of her story. She wants to scream, but she doesn't.

2. All characters are relevant and all of them have a valuable role:
- Wife
This is the main character. Her name was not mentioned, as the narration is conducted on her
behalf in the format of a monologue. She is seeing a psychiatrist, talking about traveling with her
husband, about her children, and how she was paralyzed. The woman admits that she wants to
scream. She is submissive, optimistic, and cherishes the memories of her travels. The wife is
extremely fond of her husband and children. She has four children.

- Piers
The husband of the main character is a Nobel Prize winner, he’s a particle physicist. He is attentive,
 meticulous and also very smart. After his wife was paralyzed, he took her to all the doctors, but her
illness remained a great mystery to medicine.
A man is convinced that he knows everything in the world better than anyone. He is very slow on
the road, which often caused conflicts with other drivers during his travels. He always carefully
tasted the wine, tasting and enjoying the taste, but never bought it. He constantly asked the waiters
in the restaurant about the dishes, showing boredom. A man loves melons and devotes a lot of time
to the choice, which infuriates many people standing with him in the queue.

- David
The son of the main character and her husband Piers. David became a racing driver and became
the complete opposite of his father, who drove at a speed of 55 km per hour.

- Fanny
The daughter of the main character and her husband Piers. Fanny had moved far away after
leaving college.

- Angela
The daughter of the main character and her husband Piers. She became a good psychiatric nurse.

- Brutus
The son of the main character and her husband Piers.

- Miss Jacobs
The psychiatrist of the main character, who was told the whole story. At the end of the text, we can
see that her patient is enraged, accusing the doctor of something and apologizing to Piers, her
actions.

2. Characters embody the ideas.

- Wife
Each of the ideas is directly related to the inner state of this woman: fear, lies, blindness, illusions,
mental and physical health problems, relationships, addiction. All this is embodied in it and it can be
revealed for a number of reasons described above.

- Piers
A man is, in a sense, an abuser in a marriage. Because of his influence, the wife will experience a
variety of feelings, starting with fear and ending with the desire to scream mixed with submissive
silence.

- David
One of the couple's sons became someone his father despised when traveling. Apparently, the
feeling of discomfort while driving his father and pushed him to this profession.

3. Characters’ experiences
- Wife
The conversation with the psychiatrist did not influence on the main character anything. Her opinion
of her husband has not changed, her opinion of her children has remained the same, she has not
even admitted that she is suffering at the moment. Yes, it is difficult for her without traveling, but she
sincerely tries to convince herself that everything is fine.

STUDY NOTES 3
 Theme/character Example Techniques Effect
1. Describing the car. It was dented and bumped and Graduation Dramatism.
battered.
2. Wife and her Can it be only five years? Rhetorical Express emotions of
monolog. question the character.
3. Wife’s beliefs. I’m his wife, he’s my husband. Parallel Express emotions of
constructions the character.
4. Fanny's future. A long away. Almost as far as Hyperbole Express emotions of
she could get. the character.
5. Medicines. I’d taken Valium. I’d take Repetition. Importance of this
Valium. detail.

STUDY NOTES 5
In this story the author can demonstrate the dependence of thoughts and feelings.
Unfortunately, the example of the main character showed us how harmful the influence of a
person who has been around for so long can be. The woman is silent about her problems, hides,
is overly dependent on him, considering a man an ideal. Because of her way of thinking and
avoiding real problems she got harm, her leges stopped walking and she always must take
medication and visit doctors instead of solve the reason of her weakness.