Sample Responses | Introduction to the Study of English Fiction

1. (7 points) Describe Mrs Foster’s relationship with her husband. Mention the main problem between them and what seems to be its causes.

Mrs. Foster’s relationship with her husband is strained because of their different reactions to time. At the beginning of the story Mrs. Foster is described as “a good and loving wife” who listens to her husband and follows his wishes. Recently, however, she begins to wonder whether Mr. Foster intentionally aggravates her “almost pathological fear of missing a train, a plane, a bus, or even a theatre curtain” by making her late for things.

When Mr. Foster, leaving his study late, going back to wash his hands, walking slowly down the steps, makes her late for her (later postponed) important Paris flight to visit her daughter Ellen and the three grandchildren, Mrs. Foster “hate[s] to leave the airport. She [doesn’t] wish to see her husband. She [is] terrified that in one way or another he would eventually manage to prevent her from getting to France.” While Mrs. Foster asks the butler again and again for the time, Mr. Foster increases her panic by waiting. Their relationship is also marked by Mr. Foster’s seeming superiority (in control of time, and therefore in control of Mrs. Foster?) over his wife. Words like “Nonsense, it’s quite unnecessary” are typical of him, and “Oh yes” is typically her response.

2. (7 points) Does Mrs Foster know that her husband is caught in the lift before she goes to the airport? If so, why does she not try to help him? Do you think it is convincing that a loving and obedient wife like her can do such a horrible thing? Give well-supported reasons to substantiate your answer.

Mrs. Foster knows that her husband is caught in the elevator before she goes to the airport (the second time) because after she hears sound(s) coming from “somewhere deep within the house” her manner suddenly changes: she is more commanding toward the chauffeur, her face is “harder.” When she comes back from Paris, she is not surprised that no car is waiting to pick her up. When she goes into the house, “she [has] the air of a woman who is off to investigate a rumour or to confirm a suspicion.”

Mr. Foster’s being stuck in the elevator and dying allows Mrs. Foster to go live permanently with her daughter and grandchildren in Paris. Combined with her recent discoveries of him “staring intently at her eye” and of Ellen’s present “wedged” deep in the crack of the car seat as if it were “helped by the push of a hand,” this desire convinces her that he is not deserving of her loyalty. His intentionally tormenting her throughout their married life which increases recently compounded with his cruel remarks such as the flight is probably cancelled, “nonsense,” not wanting to write letters to her, give her added motivation. “They are always meeting in the hall nowadays” suggests that they are no longer sleeping in the same room and indicates that their sexual relationship is as bad as their personal one. These are reasons why it is possible that a loving and obedient wife can decide to act cruelly and heartlessly by letting her husband die with no guilt but rather “a glimpse of satisfaction.”