A Literary Analysis Of Budge Wilson's 'The Leaving'

Women often marry older men in arranged marriages, because their family wants them to marry wealthy. What they don’t mention is the frustration and fear some women have, when married to these men. “The Leaving” written by Budge Wilson is a short story of a mother and daughter named: Elizabeth and Sylvie. Sylvie lives with her mother (Elizabeth), father and her four brothers in Nova Scotia. Sylvie and her mother are treated with no respect in their household. The mother and daughter embark on a three day journey to find the respect that they both deserve. “Another Evening at the Club” by Alifa Rifaat is another short story of a sixteen year old girl who is in an arranged marriage, and is facing a grand dilemma about a beautiful lost ring that

Sylvie and her mother are expected to follow rules and to do chores with no questions asked. When Sylvie leaves the house in the early hours of the morning with her mother, Sylvie is thoroughly confused. Her main question when she left with her mother to Halifax was “how would Pa and my brothers cook their dinner? How would they make their bed?” (Wilson, 1990, p. 2). This is a great example of her knowing that her father and brothers rely on her and her mother to do all the chores. With the young sixteen year old girl, she was involved in an arranged marriage with an older man. The older man had given her this stunning ring one night. At the end of the night she had taken it off her finger and placed it down. In the morning she could not find it, and had informed her husband that she had no idea where it went. The husband assumed that it was the young servant that had stole the ring, and sent the servant off to get beaten until she confessed to the crime. Later on, the young wife found the ring and was unsure how to deal with this situation, knowing that her husband cared deeply for his reputation. She informs her husband that she has found the ring and she suggests that he should release the girl from custody. He simply pats her on the cheek and says he can deal with it. The pat on the cheek to her was more of a slap to the face, it showed her

Those concepts being that both of these women in these short stories have no control in their marriages and are treated like objects. “The Leaving” is a story of a mother and daughter going on a three day adventure to ponder about how they can come back from their small journey, and receive the respect they deserve. They arrive back home with a huge amount of determination, to finally acquire that respect. “Another Evening at the Club” is a tale of a young 16 year old girl involved in an arranged marriage with an older man. She is faced with a dilemma of helping another young girl who is a servant or to not say anything so that she can protect her husband's reputation. These women may not have been in the same locations around the world or facing the same situations, but they can relate to one another with the fact that they do not have the control or respect that they deserve within their