In the story “The Girlie Show,” we are introduced to a woman named Pauline, a wife cheated on by the husband whom she loves and who abuses her. The story has many hints of abuse that we pick up through Pauline’s eyes. A few quotes that we receive from Pauline that give us those minute hints:
- “Stand by the stove,” he says, rolling his s
hirtsleeves above his elbows. That angry vein in his forearm…” - “You’re not anything,” he says coolly. “But the painting will be called the ‘Irish Venus.’”
- “The canvas on his easel was torn in half, and he was gone to McCrory’s till four. When he finally returned, knocking over the milk bottles on the front step, he did some nasty things under their covers that she was required to be part of. She had to go to a doctor the next day and have some stitches put inside. Pushing through the train turnstile made her cry in pain.”
When I first read this, the number one thing that caught my eye was Pauline and her husband’s relationship. The matter of the story opening by sexualizing a woman’s body speaks a lot about the characteristics of the husband and friend. It became evident that, by their tones, these conversations happen often. It was no surprise until we, the audience, found out that one of the men was married and talking about this in earshot for his wife to hear. It showed that he and his friend could have a casual conversation about this and that the man did not care enough about his wife, who could hear such vulgar things.
Another thing that struck me is that Pauline truly wants to be seen by her husband and be loved by him. In the scene in which she comes home to the shoes two sizes too small, anyone seeing that would know that he was cheating. However, to Pauline, it was the first time in a while that he had done something to show his love. You want to be loved by your partner, and Pauline shows this by giving him chance after chance, even if he may not deserve it. With these subtle (and not so subtle) hints to provide insight into their relationship, I was pleasantly surprised when Pauline followed her husband and met with Mae to get revenge on her abusive, cheating husband. The last scene in the story reminded me of a movie called The Other Woman (with Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann), in which a wife and two of his mistresses plot revenge on her conniving, weasel husband. Both of these stories show that women do not have to always tear each other down, and the fault can usually be traced back to the man.