The Woman's Problem In A Secret Sorrow

The woman’s problem in “A Sorrowful Woman” is made more complex than Faye’s problem in “A Secret Sorrow” as a result of deliberate choices made by the authors. In “A Secret Sorrow”, the main character, Faye, is plagued by the fact that she cannot have children due to internal injuries sustained from a devastating accident. She is in love with a man but has kept this secret from him until one day she is forced to reveal it. He very quickly rebounds from this news and tells her he loves her anyway and they live happily ever after on a ranch with a picket fence and 3 adopted children. On the contrary, in “A Sorrowful Woman”, the main character is a mother who has come to despise her family and her duties. Over time she progressively worsens until she can no longer bear to see her husband and child, and in the end she kills herself. Just from that short summary of the two, it is clear to see that one is more sophisticated and complicated than the other. One author creates a solution that comes quickly with few obstacles and ends in a rather fairy-tale like, unrealistic way while another introduces a rarely spoken about problem that consistently

At first it might seem as if Faye’s problem is more dire than the mother in “A Sorrowful Woman”, but it soon becomes clear that that is not the case. While Faye struggles with the fact that she cannot have children, the mother in the second piece already has a child but has become unable to handle and love him like she should. These are both problems that occur in people’s lives and are usually not spoken about openly, yet the author of “A Sorrowful Woman” really goes in depth about the mother’s deep seeded depression and want to withdraw from life while it seems like Faye’s problem is just as upsetting, yet seems to be glossed over and goes immediate to the solution to make the issue disappear, and fast forwards to their happy