Ignorance In Girls In Their Summer Dresses

The reality is that real-life romantic relationships and marriages end up because of ignorance, stubbornness, insincerity towards self and one's partner and the inability of couples to admit being wrong. Insincerity and ignorance in a marriage or a committed romantic relationship can drive a wedge between couples. In the short story “Girls in their Summer Dresses” there are several instances that demonstrate ignorance and insincerity especially on the part of Michael. While Frances and Michael are walking down the Fifth Avenue and she confronts him about it, he says, “Not the truth. Occasionally, maybe, I look at a woman as she passes. In the street. I admit, perhaps in the street, I look at a woman once in a while. . . .(Shaw 4)" Despite the

People who feel that their partners exhibit ignorance are always in a dilemma of what to do about it. Furthermore, partners that have ignorant characteristics exhibit sarcasm and escapist arguments to defend their actions. This can be very dangerous for a marriage or a romantic relationship as the aggrieved partner may find it hard to believe the seriousness in which one takes the issues that may directly or indirectly affect their marriage (Cunningham 273). When Frances confronts Michael about looking at other girls, he responds "I look at everything. God gave me eyes and I look at women and men and subway excavations and moving pictures and the little flowers of the field. I casually inspect the universe (Shaw 4)." The casualness and escapism in his response depict ignorance and this is one of the biggest causes of romantic relationship failure in the contemporary world. Ignorance is akin to partners not accepting the wrongs that they have committed and being stubborn about is when they are confronted. Therefore, ignorance and more so, stubbornness can drive a wedge between couples.

People that are married in most cases are healthier and happier. It is a fact that couples want to be happy in their marriages and the best way to do this is transforming for better and not for worse. Frances during the confrontation says "I don't want a fight. I don't know why I started this. All right, let's drop it. Let's have a good time (Shaw 5)." This is an indication that even in real life, no couple wants to be in a constant quarrel and all people want is to be happy and have a good time. Partners in a romantic relationship have to work for happiness by doing the right things. Furthermore, all relationships deserve another chance to see if it can work out. At the end of the short story, the author writes, “She got up from the table and walked across the room toward the telephone. Michael watched her walk, thinking, what a pretty girl, what nice legs (Shaw 10).” Michael, in the end, recognizes how pretty Frances is. Therefore, all relationships deserve a fresh beginning despite being rocky. They deserve transformation and improvement for the