THE ASTRONOMER’S WIFE BY KAY BOYLE ACTIVITY

Task 1: Answer the following questions.

1. How does the astronomer treat his wife?

The astronomer treats his wife poorly and acts around her as a stranger. He sees her as
someone who does things for him, as a servant and not as his partner or wife. His
obsession with work and being a “solitary dreamer” has affected their marriage negatively
and emotionally scarred his wife because of such behavior. He rarely speaks to his wife,
only when he needs her to do something for him like “the removal of the spot left there from
dinner on the astronomer’s vest to the severe thrashing of the mayonnaise for lunch.” In the
story, the astronomer only appears once yelling, “‘Katherine!’ the astronomer said the
astronomer in a ringing tone. ‘There’s a problem worthy of your mettle!’” putting his wife in
despair, preferring his “silence” rather than him expressing his thoughts.

Some instances in the story show Katherine’s attitude towards the sleeping habit of her
husband that he does not want to be disturbed at all, especially when he is thinking or
working. She acts around him like a thief, careful with her every word and actions to not be
noticed by her husband, which ironically she wants as well, but given his attitude, he prefers
to suppress such “earthly” feelings.

2. How do the astronomer and the plumber differ?

Katherine describes the astronomer and the plumber differently, "her husband was the
mind, the other man [the plumber] the meat of all mankind."

The astronomer has a “dry, scornful, intellectual personality” who likes “silence and
solidarity" and "lay still for hours, at others he sat upon the roof behind his telescope, or
wandered down the pathway to the road and out across the mountains.” He only puts
actions into his being and work; his mind “made steep and sprightly flights, pursued illusion,
took a foothold in the nameless things that cannot pass between the thumb and finger.” The
astronomer prefers to think about abstract things of otherworldly ideas like the universe,
compared to the physical world consisting of people and society.

On the other hand, the plumber is the foil of the astronomer, a total opposite, kind of a man.
He is a “tough, hardy man,” yet respectful and compassionate at the same time with his
gestures towards the astronomer’s wife, which is also the supposed role of a husband. He
is a man of “action” and does things with his “hands and body” in a concrete manner, unlike
the astronomer. This very distinct difference of the plumber to the astronomer made a
realization to Katherine tremendously.

3. How does the plumber view the astronomer’s wife?

The plumber views the astronomer’s wife as a “child” who needs attention and solution from
her alien husband and their dysfunctional marriage. He sees very clearly that Katherine is
unhappy in her marriage, notices “a wave of color in it [Katherine’s face], but this may have
been anything but shame” and reacting “bitterly” towards the astronomer. The plumber
understands the sentiments of Katherine through their interactions with each other and fills
up the loneliness she feels. The plumber “pays attention to her, looks her in the eye when
he speaks to her and treats her politely and pleasantly,” things which the astronomer does
not do to Katherine. He gave back what was once lost and taken from the life of Katherine,
which is an engagement with the physical world. A world she can connect with and which
does not feel very distant and is concrete.
Task 2: Complete the table below.

Literary
Elements & Lines/ Evidence/Explanation from the story that justifies the figurative
Figurative language
Language
The setting of the story happens in a villa where the astronomer and his wife live.
The first part of the story takes place inside the house showing the disastrous event
of a damaged “soil line.” The latter part is set outside in the garden displaying the
plumber fixing the problem of both the “soil line” and Katherine’s oppressive
marriage.
Setting
“Mrs. Ames began speaking of their arrival that summer in the little villa, mourning
each event as it followed on the other.”

“There they stood in the garden with the vegetation flowering in disorder all about.”
“The Astronomer’s Wife” is told through a third-person limited omniscient narrator
focusing on Katherine Ames’ point of view. Boyle describes Katherine’s ideas and
thoughts vividly in her freedom of expressing her own opinion without the constraint
of her “scorn” husband. When Katherine interacts with the plumber, the sentences
Point of View
are shorter, showing her constrained feelings and emotional state.

“That man might be each time the new arching wave, and woman the undertow that
sucked him back, were things she had been told by his silence were so.”
The tone and mood of the story depict a wistful, longing, and philosophical effect to
its readers of a loveless marriage between Katherine and her “intellectual spouse.”
Yet, the plumber gives hope, a “remedy,” and awakens her senses, grabbing the
opportunity to change her lonely married life.
Tone & Mood
“But the words the astronomer had spoken still sounded in her in despair. The mind
of man, she knew, made steep and sprightly flights, pursued illusion, took foothold in
the nameless things that cannot pass between the thumb and finger. But whenever
the astronomer gave voice to the thoughts that soared within him, she returned in
gratitude to the long expanses of his silence.”
Protagonist: Katherine Ames is the protagonist of the story; she is timid,
constrained, lost her sense of self and freedom of expression due to her marriage
with the astronomer and how he treats her. She realizes what she has been missing
in life after having an interaction with the plumber.

“The astronomer's wife felt the interval gaping and at once filled it to the brim. She
fetched up her gentle voice and sent it warily down the stairs for coffee, swung her
feet out upon the oval mat, and hailed the morning with her bare arms' quivering
flesh drawn taut in rhythmic exercise: left, left, left my wife and fourteen children,
Protagonist & right, right, right in the middle of the dusty road.”
Antagonist
Antagonist: Although not fully established, the astronomer, Mr. Ames, is the
antagonist in the story and Katherine’s life. He fails to recognize and act upon the
needs of his wife, who has become distressed and unconfident of herself. Further,
due to his “mystery, silence, solitary” behavior treatment towards her.

“There is an evil moment on awakening when all things seem to pause. But for
women, they only falter and may be set in action by a single move: a lifted hand and
the pendulum will swing, or the voice raised and through every room the pulse takes
up its beating.”
 The major conflict in the story talks about the dysfunction of marriage between the
astronomer and his wife. The reasons for their unsuccessful marriage are due to a
lack of communication, attention, intimacy, and love, primarily caused by the
astronomer's attitude and characteristics.
Major Conflict
“The day would proceed from this, beat by beat, without reflection, like every other
day. The astronomer was still asleep, or feigning it, and she, once out of bed, had
come into her own possession. Although scarcely ever out of sight of the
impenetrable silence of his brow, she would be absent from him all the day in being
clean, busy, kind.”

Themes 1. The epiphany and breakthrough of one’s self-worth in the world.

(Give at least Katherine Ames wakes up every day, along with her same set of routines. Although
three.) her husband, Mr. Ames, is not cruel or abusive, he fails to fulfill his role as a
husband making his wife distress and distant. When the plumber arrives, Katherine
interacts with him, and she soon realizes that something is wrong in their marriage
and that the astronomer is not the only kind of man in the world. Katherine
recognizes her worth as a woman with how the plumber treats her and gives her the
attention, intimacy she longs for.

“Whereas her husband had always gone up, as the dead go, she knew now that
there were others who went down, like the corporeal being of the dead. That men
were then divided into two bodies now seemed clear to Mrs. Ames.”

2. The contrast, opposing forces of the intellect and emotion.

The astronomer portrays the “intellect” or “mind” of a man, given his profession of
being an astronomer, he spends more time “thinking” about the unknown, vast
universe rather than the physical world and his wife. He ignores his wife and
sparingly interacts with others, not even his wife. Katherine does not understand his
line of work when the astronomer talks about “heights” in comparison with the
plumber.

The plumber is the “emotion,” “the meat of all mankind” he takes the role of the
traditional concept of a man who works and provides for one’s own or family making
him wonder “surely it seemed to him strange for a man to linger in bed, with the sun
pouring yellow as wine all over the place.”

3. Confinement and subordination of women in marriage.

The mistreatment of the astronomer towards Katherine affected her negatively; she
second-guesses herself and is not confident of her own. She suppresses such
feelings and distracts herself from her husband by “being busy, clean, kind.”

“But whenever the astronomer gave voice to the thoughts that soared within him,
she returned in gratitude to the long expanses of his silence. Desert-like they
stretched behind and before the articulation of his scorn.”

4. Lack of respect towards others or a spouse.

As fellow human beings, we must treat each other with respect; it is a universal
value that each of us must possess. In terms of marriage, it must also be practiced
among partners and couples, which the story shows the astronomer lacks this very
value towards his half. His mistreatment of Katherine negatively impacts her to think
little of herself; wherein his only dialogue in the story, he yells at her while she is
solving a problem which a man must do, but instead he “lays and sleeps” in the
comfort of his bed.

“‘Katherine!’ said the astronomer in a ringing tone. ‘There's a problem worthy of your
 mettle!’”
1. The Sewer
The sewer is the representation of Katherine’s doors to a path of her realization and
transformation as a person as she enters the physical world leaving aside her
distant, alienated marriage life. She goes down to the earth along with the plumber
to whom she can connect, understands, and pays attention to her.

“She pointed briefly to the open door in the pathway, and the plumber hoisted his kit
on his arm and put out his hand to help her down.”
Symbols
(Give at least 2. The Cud
two.) As the story approaches its ending, the plumber tells a story about a cow, “‘I once
had a cow that lost her cud,’ the plumber was saying...‘But I made her another in no
time," he was saying, "out of flowers and things and whatnot.’” The plumber
presents that “there is a remedy for every ill,” including Katherine’s marriage and life.
The cud represents the antidote to Katherine’s problems, which the plumber can
give if she takes and grabs the opportunity.

“‘Oh,’ said the astronomer's wife in wonder as she stepped into the heart of the
earth. She took his arm, knowing that what he said was true.”
1. "I am Mrs. Ames," she said softly, softly down the flight of stairs. "I am Mrs.
Ames," spoken soft as a willow weeping.
Simile/
2. The mystery and silence of her husband's mind lay like a chiding finger on her
Metaphor
lips.
(Give at least
three lines or
3. Desert-like they stretched behind and before the articulation of his scorn.
sentences.)
4. Life, life is an open sea, she sought to explain it in sorrow, and to survive women
cling to the floating debris on the tide.
1. The beginning of the story is the start of Katherine's day with a coffee and a
rhythmic exercise where she sings something that goes, “left, left, left my wife and
fourteen children, right, right, right in the middle of the dusty road,” depicting a man
leaving his wife and children. However, this becomes an irony where the song
becomes reversed. Instead of the astronomer leaving his wife, Katherine left him
Irony
because of a dysfunctional marriage, lack of intimacy, and love.
(Give at least
one.)
2. In the astronomer’s only dialogue, he yells at Katherine, stating that “there's a
problem worthy of your mettle!” He thinks that Katherine solving the problem with the
soil line, which is a man’s job, is much more important than what he is doing at that
time, “thinking, laying or sleeping on his bed,” which is not. He leaves the job of man
over to his wife while saying and thinking that such things are not worthy at all.
Imagery “The plumber himself looked up and saw Mrs. Ames with her voice hushed,
(Give at least speaking to him. She was a youngish woman, but this she had forgotten. The
two.) mystery and silence of her husband's mind lay like a chiding finger on her lips. Her
eyes were gray, for the light had been extinguished in them. The strange dim halo
of her yellow hair was still uncombed and sideways on her head.”

“‘You see how it is,’ said the plumber, as if leading her mind away. ‘The drains run
from these houses right down the hill, big enough for a man to stand upright in them,
and clean as a whistle, too.’ There they stood in the garden with the vegetation
flowering in disorder all about. The plumber looked at the astronomer's wife. ‘They
come out at the torrent on the other side of the forest beyond there,’ he said.’”

“The plumber lifted his strong, weathered face and looked curiously at her. Surely it
seemed to him strange for a man to linger in bed, with the sun pouring yellow as
wine all over the place. The astronomer's wife saw his lean cheeks, his high,
rugged bones, and the deep seams in his brow. His flesh was as firm and clean as
wood, stained richly tan with the climate's rigor. His fingers were blunt, but
comprehensible to her, gripped in the ring and holding the iron door wide. The
backs of his hands were bound round and round with ripe blue veins of blood.”