The battle between husband and wife
——The unicorn in the garden
The unicorn in the garden was written by James Thurber. The plot of this story is that a man told his wife he saw a unicorn in the garden, but the wife did not believe him at the first time. When the man told the wife he saw the unicorn in the garden at the second time, the wife called the police and the psychiatrist. At last, the wife was subdued and took away, the husband lived happier ever after.
What the story impressing me is the battle between the husband and his wife. At the beginning of this story, I can realize the husband is a timid and henpecked person, as he just "sat in a breakfast nook” and his breakfast is cooked himself. But oppose to the wife, she is an impatient person and more like a hellcat. When the husband told her he saw an unicorn at the first time, she just” opened one unfriendly eye”,” turned her back on him" and” coldly”. At the second time, her language are ironic, she name her husband “a booby" and want him to "put in the booby-hatch”. Why I think she is a hellcat? Form the story, we can know when the police and wanted to seized the wife, “they had a hard time”, the word “subdued” ,”terrific” and the wife was called "as crazy as a jay bird”. All these can show the wife is hellcat. I think the afoul character decide the battle between them. Almost of their living, the husband is always tolerated but the wife is dissatisfied all the time. They should not live together peacefully. The conflict is irreconcilable and cumulative to the peak. At last, either of them wants to let the other out and the battle begin.
Then I want to talk about the battle. In my opinion, the character also decides their fighting methods. As the husband is a timid and henpecked person, he more likely didn’t fighting with the wife face to face, so he goes in a covert and roundabout way. The husband use the mythical beast “unicorn” which is eating flowers in the garden to show his “abnormal” even repeat his “abnormal” to his wife. That is his purpose. He knows his wife who will take some action. The wife is impatient. In fact, she didn’t prove her husband’s “abnormal” but directly telephoned the police and a psychiatrist just after talk with the husband. Maybe the husband gives a choice to the wife, if the wife chooses to go to the garden, the result would be different. However, the wife chooses abandoning his husband. Therefore, the impatient wife is the loser during this battle.
The title “the unicorn in the garden” is a symbol, too. As we all know, the unicorn is a mythical beast, how can the husband see it? How can it happen in the garden? So we clearly understand the thing is impossible. As I thought it can symbolize the battle between the husband and wife is inevitable. It is impossible to solve the battle peacefully.
To sum up, I think the story is a tragedy as a couple has to have a battle. If the couple can communicate more often, perhaps the result would be different.
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