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 stopped elbow is enough to trigger anawakening in Mrs. Katherine Ames. When Mrs. Ames realise that the plumber wastalking about something she understood (the stopped elbow), she realized thather marital problems were not the result of a division betwwen the sexesinstead, she realized that some men, like the plumber, argon as practical as sheis, and that some other men, like her husband, scorn people like her becausethey are intellectually inclined. Previous to this discovery, Katherine did notrealize that at that place were different kinds of men, and thitherfore she did notrealize that she and her husband were mismatched. Furthermore, in her awakening,Mrs. Ames also discovers that she, like the plumber, occupies as valuable aplace in society as the astronomer, for she does the dirty work to free peoplelike her husband to have time to think and to discover.The scene in question takes place afterward Mrs. Ames has already noticed thatthe plumber has a few physical 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 ever saidthat Mrs. Ames has understood. After the plumber has descended into the landed estatebefore the scene, Mrs. Ames is the only one left. She spends the entireduration of this scene sitting on the grass, silently thinking and revealing herthoughts to the audience.During her course of thinking, Mrs. Ames makes the important discovery thatthere is a whole race of practical people like herself, men and women alike.She knew that when her husband spoke of height, having no sense of it, shecould not picture it nor hear, precisely strangely enough, when another man whohappened to be a plumer spoke of his work, madness in a daily shape, as elbowstopped, she saw clearly and closely. Mrs Ames finally realized during thesethoughts that these were two men with two different ways of life, and perhapsher way of life suited the plumbers more than the astronomers, in that she toocould put only with daily concerns. The division between people in hermind was no longer just between men and women it was now the working and thethinking, those who had forever and a day gone up, and others who went down, like the