How I Met My Husband - Literary Essay

The short story How I Met My Husband, by Alice Munro, is an excellent example of realistic writing. She uses ordinary and worldly events, actual locations, and a very ironic tone in the story. Alice Munro also uses everyday people for her protagonists, who encounter normal events and emotions. In the story How I Met My Husband, Edie shows the growth from someone who is very naÐ"Їve to someone who is more realistic.

In the beginning of this story, Edie is a very naÐ"Їve fifteen-year-old girl. She does not yet realize that the world does not cater to her, or tell her how to do everything in life. One way she shows this is by thinking that at school, “the work was hard, they didn’t make it nice for you or explainвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (Munro, page 38). When Edie tries on the dress and Chris catches her wearing it, she is too naÐ"Їve to notice that he is teasing her, and she “didn’t know how to jokeвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (Munro, page 41). Working for the Peebles is Edie’s initial experience being “away from the home for the first time” (Munro, page 38), which has greatly affected how she sees the world. Not yet being away from the home for an extended period has made Edie very unaware of how men can act towards young females. Edie does not show the normal maturity that most girls her age should show.

Towards the middle of the story, Edie spends some time with Chris. The interactions between them shows that Edie is starting to mature, but it also shows that she is still very naÐ"Їve and not at all realistic. While she was visiting Chris, Edie was “kissing back as well as I could” (Munro, page 49), but she did not have any experience with boys, let alone men like Chris before. When Chris was leaving, Edie “wasn’t at all sad, because he held my face and said вЂ?I’m going to write you a letter. I’ll tell you where I am and maybe you can come and see me.вЂ™Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (Munro, page 49). She was still inexperienced enough to think that a letter from Chris would come. When Edie gets back from her visit with Chris, Alice Kelling was waiting. When Alice asked Edie if she was intimate with Chris, Edie tells her yes. At this point, Edie is still too immature to realize that kissing was not what Alice meant when she said intimate. Mrs. Peebles had to explain to Edie that “being intimate means a lot more than that [kissing]...” (Munro, page