Garp And Helen's Marriage Analysis

Garp and Helen’s marriage is by far the most complicated relationship I’ve read or heard about. I would describe it as one of the most emotional train wrecks ever. They somehow manage to make it work though. Throughout their marriage it looks like the roles of everyday life have shift in an opposite direction. Garp has assumed your basic role of the old school housewife and Helen has assumed the role of the old school male since she is the main provider. In chapter 9, you can really see how Garp shifts into the role of the basic housewife. It mentions later in the chapter how he always cooks just about every dinner. He also has very motherly instincts, such as always yelling at cars to slow down and chasing them down on foot, he’s very protective
of his children, especially Duncan, his oldest. They also describe how he is a neat freak, or at least has tendencies of a neat freak. He always has to pick up every little thing around the house, vacuums constantly, and always does the laundry. Helen, however shifts in the role of a husband and a provider. Not only does she bring in most of the income for their family but she has very stereotypical man-like tendencies, for instance she’s very stern and she doesn’t show much emotion like Garp does. She’s definitely not a stereotypical fragile woman, she’s strong and independent. She doesn’t do your stereotypical cleaning and cooking like Garp, she usually doesn’t do all the things a woman would be seen doing. This is what makes Helen such a unique and awesome character. Now do I think they would survive in today’s society? I think they could in their marriage, just probably not financially. It doesn’t matter what role anyone plays in the household, women have as much capability of making more money than men do. The only problem is that Garp barely makes money as it is. He wouldn’t be able to support his two kids and Helen. He already has trouble writing as it is and it’s very hard to make a living off writing books. In the end, I think that the gender role shift is humorous. It adds a different perspective in the eyes of Garp. It’s a good way to see just how a man would handle the role that a woman usually has. So far, Garp proves to be very good at his stay at home job, even though he’s not the most perfect of house husbands. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Garp and Helen.