Natural Colour by John Updike
Natural Colour –John Updike
John Updike in his short story, “Natural Colour” highlights the patriarchal man and his perspective of women, how man differentiates between wife and mistress and also, how the two hold imbalanced positions in his life .Both meant to satisfy different urges of the man. The wife, to serve him domestically the mistress, to serve him sexually. The mistress can never eclipse the position of a wife because at the end of a day she is considered a ‘whore’ or’ morally lose woman’. While at the same time it is the relationship she shares with so called ’gentlemen’ that results in her being branded as one.
The short story begins with the protagonist,’Frank’, having caught a glimpse of his one time lover. She is described as an attractive woman. Frank has a flashback of the time when he ended their affair, twenty years back. He flees into a drugstore in order to avoid her; the reader is given an insight into what Frank feels about this unexpected intrusion, “It was somehow an attack on him, to have her striding about so boldly in this town. Frank behaves in an avoidant manner; he is clearly an egotistical man. Franks’ reaction hints that he may still be harboring feelings for Maggie.
While he roams the drugstore, he sees what he feels. His repressed sexual longing for Maggie, flood back to overcome him. He is described as being furious with her for going beyond him and making a life, he is consumed by jealousy. ‘It occurred to him as his blood pounded, that sex had very little to do with kindness’, Frank represents the animalistic man for whom the woman is an object of desire, a sexual being ,similar to that of Stanley Kowalski’s’ character in ,”A streetcar named desire”.’I was an absolute whore, I’d sleep with anybody. ‘Upon Maggie confessing this to him, he is not awed by it, while imagining it. Frank is possessive of her even though he uses her only to satisfy himself .He can’t swallow the fact that someone has been in his place
John Updike in his short story, “Natural Colour” highlights the patriarchal man and his perspective of women, how man differentiates between wife and mistress and also, how the two hold imbalanced positions in his life .Both meant to satisfy different urges of the man. The wife, to serve him domestically the mistress, to serve him sexually. The mistress can never eclipse the position of a wife because at the end of a day she is considered a ‘whore’ or’ morally lose woman’. While at the same time it is the relationship she shares with so called ’gentlemen’ that results in her being branded as one.
The short story begins with the protagonist,’Frank’, having caught a glimpse of his one time lover. She is described as an attractive woman. Frank has a flashback of the time when he ended their affair, twenty years back. He flees into a drugstore in order to avoid her; the reader is given an insight into what Frank feels about this unexpected intrusion, “It was somehow an attack on him, to have her striding about so boldly in this town. Frank behaves in an avoidant manner; he is clearly an egotistical man. Franks’ reaction hints that he may still be harboring feelings for Maggie.
While he roams the drugstore, he sees what he feels. His repressed sexual longing for Maggie, flood back to overcome him. He is described as being furious with her for going beyond him and making a life, he is consumed by jealousy. ‘It occurred to him as his blood pounded, that sex had very little to do with kindness’, Frank represents the animalistic man for whom the woman is an object of desire, a sexual being ,similar to that of Stanley Kowalski’s’ character in ,”A streetcar named desire”.’I was an absolute whore, I’d sleep with anybody. ‘Upon Maggie confessing this to him, he is not awed by it, while imagining it. Frank is possessive of her even though he uses her only to satisfy himself .He can’t swallow the fact that someone has been in his place