A New Perspective

            The use of second person in the story “How” by Lorrie Moore forces us to align ourselves with the protagonist and understand their perspective in the story. The story “How” portrays a very different main character than the other stories so far in the collection. This character feels like she is the one that is trapped in a relationship that she doesn’t want to be in and she can’t find her way out. The man in the story is trying to do what he can to make the relationship work in every way he can. He learns about the things she likes, reads the same books as her, and does all the dishes and laundry for her while she is gone. He really tries to make the relationship work but all his efforts just make her feel worse and cause her to pull away from him even more.

            In the story “What is Seized” the husband is characterized as “cold” and seems emotionally removed from his wife. In that story it is extremely easy to judge him and condemn him for his coldness and his inability to connect with his wife and make her happy. But that understanding of a cold man is complicated when the story “How” portrays the main character in much the same way. She shares the same detachment from the man in the story and could also be characterized as being “cold” in many ways. If you see the story “How” from the man’s perspective it would look a lot more like “What is Seized” because from his perspective he is trying to make their relationship work but isn’t getting a useful response. He is trying to do what he can but is faced with a cold partner who is unable to connect with him anymore.

            Given the new perspective in “How” we have to question out perspective in the other stories. The story “How” alerts us to that fact that we are always only getting one side of the story and that it looks very different from the other side. Although these are two unique stories and the relationships portrayed in each of them are very different in a lot of ways, there are similarities in that each of these stories has a character that is emotionally removed and a character that is trying to make the relationship work. In “What is Seized” we see the perspective of someone trying to make it work and being frustrated by the lack of understanding in her husband. And in “How” we see someone who is stuck in a relationship that she wants out of but cannot figure out how to get out, therefore closing herself off more and more from the relationship.