blog #3 The Wife

I thought the short story titled “The Wife” by Washington Irving was great. According to this short story, all an American needs to be happy is love. Although the character Leslie thinks his wife will no longer love him after she finds out he is a beggar, he finds out she loves him just as much as she had, if not more. I think many people have the same idea about women as Leslie did. Many people think women have to have material things in order to be happy, however this is untrue for most women. All many women need is love. This story also brings out an important point that men are more motivated to be successful when they have a partner. Irving says “And indeed I have observed that married men falling into misfortune, are more apt to retrieve their situation in the world than single men” (Irving 526). I think this is very true. Men want to satisfy their wives and they believe in order to do so they must be successful. Although, the idea behind what men think may not be completely true, it proves how much a man treasures the love of his wife. I think this story also shows that a man wants more for his wife than he does for himself. This is shown through the story of Leslie being a beggar and being content with that because it is his only option. However, although Leslie is content with this, he wants more for his wife and wants her to be happy.