Katherine Bush's A Birthday Party

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Birthday Party, a short story written by Katherine Bush in 1946 explores the topic of marriage and its repercussions. Katherine Bush showcases the idea of an individual's involvement in an unloving and abusive marriage lead to the victims lead to despair and unhappiness. The theme of the short story is developed through the use of extended metaphors. The wife, who is the victim of the husband’s verbal abuse attempts to hide her sadness from the outside world and her “big hat” is a metaphor for this statement. Similar to how no one else is unaware of her sadness, the big hat covers her face and she goes unnoticed by many. The narrator states that she witnesses the woman “[c]rying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly, all to herself, under the gay brim of her …show more content…

This metaphor showcases how the wife tries to conceal her unloving marriage from the world in hope that it will be resolved, yet she still suffers from the way the man treats her. The small candle on the cake is another metaphor used to portray the loneliness of the wife. This feeling is a common emotion felt by many victims of a detached relationship. The description “...one pink candle burning in the center”, gives the candle a feminine trait which reflects the wife. The cake, which the candle was used for was not well received by the husband and the celebration comes to a halt. Then, the cake is ignored and the candle burns in loneliness. Similar to the cake and the candle, the wife and her efforts have never been appreciated or respected by her husband. Much like the cake, the wife is ignored, and she lives her life in desolation and solitude. Lastly, the setting symbolises the wife’s lack of importance to her husband. The setting is described as “a little narrow restaurant” and with a few

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