Fay Weldon

3 Pages 692 Words

Fay Weldon uses the setting of her story to teach a young woman a lesson in morality, and about life and love. This unnamed young woman narrates the story from the first person point of view, giving the reader a private glimpse into her inner struggle.
I like how Weldon’s story is filled with irony, as the young woman seeks justification for an affair with a man who was, “supervising my thesis on varying concepts of morality and duty” (Weldon 147). As a married man, Peter is burdening her with the choice between her own morality and a struggle to be like her sister. The woman’s sister urges her to “just go for it, sister. If you can unhinge a marriage, it’s ripe for the unhinging, it would happen sooner or later, it might as well be you”.
Weldon uses rain to bring Mrs. Piper into the story, though she is not present in Sarajevo. The young woman notes that every sidewalk is sheltered by “a shield of bobbing umbrellas…to keep the rain off the streets. Using the rain pouring down upon the main characters while the townsfolk remain sheltered, Weldon shows how exposed the two lovers are, and how Mrs. Piper, too, is affected by their actions.
Peter complains that Princip’s footprints in the sidewalk are obscured by the rain, in much the same way that his lust for the young woman obscures the importance and pain of his wife. The inordinate affection that the young woman feels begins to wear off, starting a downpour, which is unstoppable until its inevitable conclusion. The rain continues to drive the storyline, forcing the woman and her lover to dine in a restaurant, under the scrutiny of the public eye. Under the watchful stare of the waiters, she finally sees herself as others do. “In a world which for once…was finally full of young men, unslaughtered, what was I doing with this man with thinning hair?” (150) Here the pieces fall into place, and the woman realizes that she is selfish in her pursuit of a marrie...