Joyce Carol Oates brings on a story about a man and a woman. The man, who has a wife, has a mistress who he financially and sexually supports. I think the biggest and most obvious theme in this story is the sheer male and female roles that are addressed within actions and emotions.
The man sheds light on the pure non-monogamous and power hungry nature that is stereotyped and often true with a lot of men. A man who has two women, yet dislikes both, yet still keeps both, yet still somewhat likes them a bit. It’s exhausting to read about and even more exhausting to experience. The woman then waits for the man. She has no purpose until the man puts purpose into her life. Her work and life are the background priorities, while the man is her main priority. The woman sits naked, sorry nude, everyday with high heels on, waiting for her man who is not even solely hers.
The most interesting part of this story is the theme of killing. Neither of them enjoy their situation, but both of them want to kill the person who is making their situation “miserable.” The wife is annoying, and the man is late. The woman goes through the explanations of how she could cover herself in the case that she did actually kill him. Making sure she had an alibi for using the sheers. The man acting purely out of anger, strangling the woman, to show his final blow of power.
The examples of power imbalance are absolutely riddled throughout this story. These gender roles are eloquently stated throughout the story to show how twisted living like this really is. How detrimental it is to stay in your box like the woman stays in her apartment, that she can’t even afford with the secretary’s salary.
It feels like the characters are in no way similar, up until the point that it is mentioned that both of them have murderous tendencies. For me, this made the story even more interesting, and it highlights the balance of power in the story.