Jennifer Jordan's Short Story 'The Wife'

“Before marriage, many couples are very much like people rushing to catch an airplane; once aboard, they turn into passengers. They just sit there.” (Getty) Jennifer Jordan, author of the short story “The Wife”, was born in 1946 and grew up in Phenix City, Alabama. After obtaining her Ph.D. from Emory University, Jordan became the associate professor of English at Howard University. Jordan’s short story was centered around Marta, a young woman who lived and fell in love in South Carolina. In present day, Marta lives with her husband, Jonathan, and child, Kim, when she begins having flashbacks to when she fell in love with Jonathan. In the past, Marta had ignored all of Jonathan’s flaws because the believed she loved him and found him charming. In present day, Marta is unhappy with her marriage because Jonathan constantly talks down on
When Marta suspected Jon of cheating on her, she couldn’t simply leave him because she was now in a committed relationship with a child. Jordan explains Marta’s thoughts as she’s panicking by saying, “Maybe she could put on that Nancy Wilson song, ‘Guess Who I Saw Today, My Dear?’ and then rush to pack her bags. But then what would she do about Kim, who would be sure to announce that she was staying with her beloved daddy?” (8). Marta rushed into marriage and love and now when she wants out she’s too far in to get out. Marta can’t leave Jon because she has Kim and, because of her rushed love, is now stuck in an unfaithful marriage with someone she doesn’t want to be with. Marriage means commitment that can be broken through divorce, but kids means that a person will be associated with that other person for the rest of their lives. Marriage and kids should only occur when two people are 100% unconditionally in love with each other because there is no going back once it