Domestic Dilemma

In the short story “The Domestic Dilemma,” by Carson McCullers, she uses multiple literary devices to depict a family that is both compassionate as well as suffering. She portrays the father Martin as the caring, understanding and responsible parent that is keeping the family together. She then portrays the mother, Emily, as the troublesome drunk because of having to adapt to new scenery. The story is about the martial problems between these two and the decisions Martin is left to face. When there mother is not having an episode, the children completely ignore them acting as if they never happen. Although there household is filled with adversity, the love they share is strong enough to keep them together. First off, as I have stated, Martin is the caring, understanding and responsible character of the story. He absolutely adores his children and cares deeply about his wife. He understands that his wife is going through some hard times which is causing her to excessively drink alcohol and he is responsible of keeping his children in a safe environment while his wife is having one of her drunken episodes. Although he is understanding, at times he gets so fed up with her, which causes altercation between the two. At times he gets angry, and has a feeling of hate towards his wife, but “As Martin watched the tranquil slumber of his wife the ghost of the old anger vanished” (McCullers 71). This meaning as soon as he saw her calm and relaxed not having an episode, he was able to calm his anger and his love for her took over. Aside from his feelings towards his wife and children, he was also worried about other people’s opinions. Like when the author says, “…there would be gossip in the office and in the town; his wife was a dissolute woman” (McCullers 71). This meaning he is worried about the people at his job finding out about his wife’s drinking problem and what they may start saying. On the contrary to Martin, there is Emily, his bitter, lonely and angry