Irony And Metaphors In Dinner For Two

The average life of a woman in the 1950s was vastly different compared to now. In the short story “Dinner for Two'', the author uses irony and metaphors to convey how the pressure created through societal expectations can drive an individual insane and corrupt, leading to calamity. Throughout most of the story, the author makes the reader believe that Jennifer is a completely normal housewife, but as we get closer to the end, the author uses metaphors to show us her true colours and she begins to be addressed as a monster, or someone who has lost it and gone completely insane. “perhaps at the monster his wife had become, perhaps at the ease with which beauty became corrupt, perhaps with the guilt born from the knowledge that he was the corruptor.”(Khraishi 8).

Jennifer is regarded as a monster, someone who is inhumane, cruel, and wicked. By comparing Jennifer to a monster, the author erases her original, dull, and robotic personality and replaces it with an evil and corrupt one, forcing the reader to acknowledge the type of person she is and realize what the author meant by calling her a monster. The use of metaphors in this situation aids the reader in making connections between the two sides of Jennifer that are shown in the story and helps us interpret the pressure that she faced due to the expectations placed on her. Jennifer had to become the perfect housewife; she cooked amazing food, had a perfect appearance, and had a flawless routine, but this led to her downfall. The pressure from being an exemplary housewife drove her to insanity, repeating the same actions over and over again, and after a while