The Birthday Party

“Birthday Party” Love can fade away or be lost by even the strongest of couples in the view of society. The “Birthday Party,” by Katharine Brush relates the relationship of two “unmistakably married” couple, out for a small celebration, which goes wrong as an example of love that can not always be sustained by age. As couples get older it is harder to sustain love in front of society, and Brush shows the idea by incorporating symbolism, tone, and point of view to the story. Brush uses the tone to build up the audience’s emotions toward the married couple and also identify why the situation occurred. In the begging she mentions that they looked “unmistakably married” which emphasizes the bond of love that appears on the outside. The physical aspect of their relationship is good to show because it lets society know that there is a strong bond, making it easier for the audience to react in the shocked way that they did when the incident occurred. The contradicting choice of words of Brush when describing the incident also gives the confusion that something is not right. By using fadingly pretty, beamed with shy pride, unmistakably married, hotly embarrassed and not pleased you can see a foreshadowing of what may happen according to the mixed signals. In a way, it has the reader thinking back and fort whether this is love after a long period of time. What seems to be an ordinary day out, turns into a small celebration in which we can compare the minor events as symbolism to their love. The cake that was brought out showed the wife’s affection for her husband, therefore simply signified her love to him. When the cake was rejected by the husband, it meant that the husband had little interest in her love. This reveals that the strong physical relationship that the audience saw in the beginning is false now that they see the husband hotly mad. It shows that their love is slowly decaying in front of society. The fact that they are out in public illustrates the