Pretty Mouth And Green My Eyes Short Story

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“Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” a short work from J. D. Salinger’s Nine Stories, provides a look into the lives of a struggling couple through the eyes of a disgruntled husband. Arthur, Joanie’s drunk and desperate spouse, calls Lee, his old friend, in search of marital advice. As Arthur describes his struggles with his wife, Lee interacts with a mysterious woman. I believe this woman to be Joanie. When Lee’s phone rings, he answers and glances “briefly left, at the girl” laying beside him in bed (Salinger 176). However, when he finds out it is Arthur on the other end of the line, Lee looks “left again, but high this time, away from the girl,” (Salinger 176). This particular action makes Lee seem evasive as though he feels guilty for something. It seems that Lee is avoiding eye contact with the woman beside him …show more content…

He asks Arthur to “get undressed and get in bed, like a good guy [because] Joanie’ll probably be there in about two minutes,” (Salinger 191). Lee’s constant reassurance towards Arthur strikes me as his attempt to change the subject. Arthur complaining about Joanie while Lee lays next to her is surely a very uncomfortable situation. Lee attempts to calm Arthur’s nerves so that he can end the current conversation or simply change the topic of discussion.
Worked up and frustrated, Arthur asks Lee if he can attempt to settle himself down by coming over for a quick drink. Lee replies, “I don’t think you should, Arthur.[...] I mean you’re more then welcome to come, but I honestly think you should just sit tight and relax till Joanie waltzes in,” (Salinger 192). Although he tries to be sly about it, Lee makes it fairly obvious that he would prefer it if Arthur did not show up at his house. This is probably because, if Arthur were to come over, there is a strong chance he would be seeing Joanie a lot sooner than he had originally

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