“Requiem for a Glass Heart”
Roxana Gay portrays both the human characters (the glass wife and the glass child) and the inanimate objects (such as the house and furniture) using glass. The recurrence of glass throughout “Requiem for a Glass Heart” gives emphasis to the omnipresence of hypocrisy in the household and the flimsiness of the marriage.
The ‘stone thrower’ is cognizant on the friability of their marriage, which is set up on glass, that is why he is continually cautious when holding his wife, as she is in danger of shattering. Fracturing the ‘glass wife’ would mark the finale of the relationship. The marriage is not material as even the love making scene is overshadowed by the imagery of glass.
Based on the resolution of the story, the title, “Requiem for a Glass Heart” denotes to the desolation that the’ ‘glass wife’ endures after attesting her husband’s perfidiousness. The ‘glass tears’ are analogous to the tears during the conventional requiem masses.
“The Mark of Twain”
The narrator’s divulgence “I am not a Good person”, which comes up in the story’s exposition pronounces the narrator’s Self Concept. The narrator is of the opinion that she merits the objectionable treatment that she submits to as she is not ‘a good person’. As such, her husband is vindicated to regard her as a “whore”, demean her and assault her physically. This self-stereotyping, which is deleterious, induces the speaker’s resolution to partake in the deceitfulness of her husband and his twin brother.
The narrator’s admittance about her proclivity for deception is analogous to self-deception ,so, the narrator is complicit. She discerns that Jacob and Caleb interchange their places and roles but she does not articulate her apprehensions, to Jacob and Caleb, as it would disintegrate the deception that binds the three of them. If the narrator were to be oblivious of the dishonesty, then she would have been justified to reprimand the two brothers. However, she cannot transpose liability to anyone as she voluntarily takes part in it or literally turns a blind eye to the deceit.
The narrator’s affirmation, “I think about how much I hate and therefore love the husband I’m with because I pity him and maybe I pity myself. I come Immoderately ”, summarizes her situation which is comparable to a labyrinth of sentiments that triggers an emotional pandemonium. The narrator’s construal is interconnected on her relationship with her husband. Accordingly, her perception of herself is contingent on her husband’s actions towards her. The interdependence, based on the narrator’s viewpoint, makes the contemptible husband indispensable in the narrator’s life.
