A Respectable Woman, A Summary and Analysis

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Mrs. Baroda tries so hard to live up to her expectations of being a respectable woman. Unfortunately, in the end of the story her words and actions leave us only to believe she was going to go against her beliefs. Does she let herself down? Can she stand up on her own and hold her ground? If there was another page to this short story, I strongly believe she'd be letting herself down.

In this story Gaston, Mrs. Baroda's husband, was expecting his college friend Gouvernail to spend a couple weeks on their plantation. Mrs. Baroda has never met Gouvernail, but from hearing all of their college stories she pictured him in her head and she did not like him. She pictured him tall, slim, cynical; with eyeglasses and his hands in his pockets. Although he was slim he was not cynical, tall neither did he wear eyeglasses or his hands in his pockets. (p 232) She is somewhat weary of his visit, but when he arrives she seems shocked that he is nothing of what she thought.

Gouvernail seems to let Mrs. Baroda down because she does not have to prepare for his visit. Gaston explains to her that she should like him, he gives her no trouble. Her response: "No, I should like him better if he did; if he were more like the others, and I had to plan somewhat for his comfort and enjoyment." (p 233) She feels there is no responsible act in being a respectable woman in his coming to visit. She does not have to cook, clean or any sort of housework for him, and that leaves her feeling uncomfortable.

Mrs. Baroda explained to Gaston that she did not like Gouvernail and for that she was leaving in the morning to stay at her aunts until his departure. That night she was sitting on the bench when Gouvernail approached, and joined her. He handed her a scarf her husband asked him to bring her. As he talked into the night she felt temptation and tension within herself. And although he kept talking she had other things on her mind. Mrs. Baroda's temptation was drawing her away from his words, and she could only concentrate on the feelings of wanting him in a way she had never experienced before. She had feelings of wanting to touch him on the lips or face with her finger tips, and the greater the feeling grew, the father she moved away from him.

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