How I Met My Husband
Patrick Silva
AP Lit
Period 4
Mr. Schmitz
October 11, 2012
How I Met My Husband Thesis Paper The theme of Alice Munro’s story “How I met my Husband” is Social expectations mold individual circumstances. Edie, a fifteen year old housemaid in the lower class of society has qualities and talents that demonstrate a skill set of aristocracy. "Have a house without pie, be ashamed until you die" is a quoted statement that Edie 's mother used to say to her that Mrs. Peebles was not very familiar with. Edie was astonished when Mrs. Peebles admitted that she could not make pie crust and said it was "the most amazing thing she ever heard a woman admit.” She of course could make pie crust, along with many other baking related foods, which was prominent in the time period that this story was written. Edie, although struck with an uneducated, lower class background, is given a vague sense of hope to rise above what is expected by society shown through qualities that she has over others that are considered higher class. Although Edie is not afraid to use her baking skills to bake Mr. Watters a cake before she visits him, she is hesitant to prepare with makeup and nice dress to look nice for him, for she is afraid that it will humiliate her as much as the first time, when he spotted her looking nice in Mrs. Peebles ' dress. Edie believes that because of her social standing in society, that Mr. Watters along with others expect her to appear as if she was of that social class. She is too naive to realize that Mr. Watters is the only person who did not judge or change tones when discovering her true class that first day they met. She continues to hold herself back by fear and never seems to advance into the realization that she does not need to be held back by what people expect and can lead a life as an individual, not as a social standing or class. Alice Kelling, Mr. Watters ' fiancé showed an upheaval from tranquility to immediate frenzy when informed that Edie got
AP Lit
Period 4
Mr. Schmitz
October 11, 2012
How I Met My Husband Thesis Paper The theme of Alice Munro’s story “How I met my Husband” is Social expectations mold individual circumstances. Edie, a fifteen year old housemaid in the lower class of society has qualities and talents that demonstrate a skill set of aristocracy. "Have a house without pie, be ashamed until you die" is a quoted statement that Edie 's mother used to say to her that Mrs. Peebles was not very familiar with. Edie was astonished when Mrs. Peebles admitted that she could not make pie crust and said it was "the most amazing thing she ever heard a woman admit.” She of course could make pie crust, along with many other baking related foods, which was prominent in the time period that this story was written. Edie, although struck with an uneducated, lower class background, is given a vague sense of hope to rise above what is expected by society shown through qualities that she has over others that are considered higher class. Although Edie is not afraid to use her baking skills to bake Mr. Watters a cake before she visits him, she is hesitant to prepare with makeup and nice dress to look nice for him, for she is afraid that it will humiliate her as much as the first time, when he spotted her looking nice in Mrs. Peebles ' dress. Edie believes that because of her social standing in society, that Mr. Watters along with others expect her to appear as if she was of that social class. She is too naive to realize that Mr. Watters is the only person who did not judge or change tones when discovering her true class that first day they met. She continues to hold herself back by fear and never seems to advance into the realization that she does not need to be held back by what people expect and can lead a life as an individual, not as a social standing or class. Alice Kelling, Mr. Watters ' fiancé showed an upheaval from tranquility to immediate frenzy when informed that Edie got