The Point of “The Country Husband” for a Reader
...dy Hill and has run it for the last forty years” (36). Everyone one else is simply a follower. Shady Hill is a place where social position matters and no one can or does do anything that they want to do. If someone does not fit the mold, then the rest of the citizens cast them out and treat them as if they are social lepers. Throughout “The Country Husband,” Francis, is at odds with the citizens of Shady Hill. After Francis survives the plane crash, he returns home to his wife and four children a changed man. He no longer cares nor follows the propriety of Shady Hill. He becomes infatuated with the babysitter, Anne Murchison. He begins to feel alive. He was “struck by the miraculous physicalness of everything” (30). Francis realizes that “he ha[s] made the mistake of listening to [everyone] with equal attention” (31), and rectifies that mistake by being “deliberately impolite” (31) to Shady Hill’s social arbiter, Mrs. Wrightson - and he enjoys doing so. At this climax in the story, Francis is at odds with the rest of the community, the antagonist of the story. Instead of laughing about the incident, his wife, Julia, becomes angry with Francis and blames him for destroying the social lives of their family. She also argues for discretion and tries to convince Francis that without the acceptance of Mrs. Wrightson and the rest of their community the value of their lives will diminish. She threatens to leave - and nearly does - until Francis begs her to stay. The next day Francis tries to decide what to do about his infatuation with Anne. “He could rape the girl or [he could] trust that he would somehow be prevented from doing this; or he could get drunk” (39). In the resolution of the story, he decides to go to the shaman of suburbia, the psychiatrist. Francis listens to the doctors “advice” and conforms. He lives his life as if he never had a glimpse of the world outside of the mundane life in suburbia. The community triumphs over the man. Without the minor characters of “The Country Husband,” Cheever would have a tough time convincing the reader that life in suburbia is not all that it appears to be. In the hierarchy of Shady Hill, Mrs. Wrightson is queen and the rest of citizens of Shady Hill are her minions. Except for a small few, all willingly follow her without a thought to what they really want to do with their lives. Even her name is a symbol of all that is wrong with Shady Hill. Although it sounds like “right” her name is spelled with a “w” like “wrong, which symbolizes that although she (and others) think that she is right, she is wrong. Gertrude Flannery does whatever pleases her. She wears what she wants and goes wher...