“The Wife’s Story”
Comprehension & Analysis Questions
1. The diction of the narrator, the wolf wife, resembles that of someone living
in the country. This is one quality of the story’s narration that disguises the
identity of the narrator as an animal. Below, list some of the phrases from the
story that lead the reader to believe that the narrator is a human woman living
in the country. One example is done for you.
“. . . he was over here pretty near
all the time”
“He was just purely good to me. A
hard worker and never lazy, and so
big and fine‐looking.”
“And my sister said — see, my see,
my parents had moved out the year
before and gone south, leaving us
the place”
“He was a good husband, a good
father.”
“And I got real mad with my baby
when she kept on acting crazy
scared of her own dad.”
2. At the beginning of the story, the wife creates a picture of her husband as an
ideal mate (characterization). This picture helps set the stage for the
surprising revelation at the end of the story. List the qualities of the husband
that the wife admires during the first months of their courtship and marriage.
A hard worker and never lazy, and so big and fine ‐looking. Young fellow that
was that nice with his family. He didn’t take things hard, he didn’t grouch and
whine when things didn’t go his way. He was always gentle. young as he was
and he had such a beautiful voice.
3. Le Guin uses a great deal of foreshadowing early in the story to indicate
that something tragic will occur. List pieces of foreshadowing from the story
that help to create this foreboding.
“Then one time when I was walking in the woods I met him by himself coming
back from a hunting trip. He hadn’t got any game at all, not so much as a field
mouse, but he wasn’t cast down about it.”
“It’s the moon’s fault, and the blood.” Something comes over
“the one that’s got the curse in his blood, they say, and he gets up because he
can’t sleep, and goes out into the glaring sun, and goes off all alone — drawn
to find those like him”
4. Hindsight is when a person realizes something after an event or after
reading a story that he or she could have picked up on earlier. A) List three
things the wife could have realized about her husband if she were paying
closer attention. B) What role did hindsight have in the story?
She could have realized that there was a pattern with the tales, and his
actions. That he would come back late and worn out, not wanting to talk
about it and that his scent/smell was different and that he was trying to wash
it out. Hindsight in the story made the wife at the end put the pieces together
like why her husband smells different, and why their daughter would be
afraid, after her husband transformed and killed.
5. How do the moon and the sun function as symbols in the story? Provide
two or three examples as evidence of your claims.
The moon transforms the husband into a different form, the moon was said to
be a curse on the husband's blood. “It was the moon, that’s what they say. It’s
the moon’s fault” If the moon functioned as a bad symbol then the sun would
function as a good symbol to balance it. “he gets up because he can’t sleep,
and goes out into the glaring sun, and goes off all alone — drawn to find those
like him.” The sun brought power and calm to the husband.
6. This story has a significant emotional crisis/conflict and a brutal physical
climax. A) Define the crisis/conflict and the climax of the story. B) Explain how
the author uses suspense to lead to both of these plot events.
The crisis/conflict in the story is how the wife was becoming worried about her
husband because he would leave and always come back tired and wouldn't
want to talk about his day or what he was doing. He came home with a
strange smell and he would try to get rid of it secretly. The brutal physical
climax in the story was when the wife was watching her husband start to
change form into a hairless, white skin thing like a worm's skin. The author
uses suspense by giving details about how it all happened. By starting with
how the husband would run off during the day, and come back differently with
voice, smell, and overall personality. Then by letting us know how the wife
found and saw her husband changing form in front of her eyes.
7. Examine the setting: (place and time) of the story and explain its
importance. Identify five things about the setting's place and the setting’s
time that are revealed in the text. Include quotes and page numbers.
The setting of the story was in the woods, with a lake nearby. “over near
Spring Lake” “Then one time when I was walking in the woods I met him by
himself coming back from a hunting trip.” “He was just larking along enjoying
the morning air.” “the singing coming up through the trees there, and the
moonlight, summer nights, the full moon shining.” “It was the moon, that’s
what they say. It’s the moon’s fault, and the blood.” “hard sunlight coming in
from the door. And I saw him standing just outside, in the tall grass by the
entrance.”
8. Reflection is when the voice of the narrator appears in the text and makes
comments AFTER the event about what he or she felt, thought, or realized.
Discuss the narrator’s reflections and provide three things she reflects upon.
Include the actual quotes/words and their page numbers in your discussion.
“I thought if the thing was dead the spell, the curse must be done, and my
husband could come back — alive, or even dead, if I could only see him, my
true love, in his true form, beautiful.” Page 3.
9. The point of view of a story is developed by the person who is telling the
story. This narrative tricks the reader because it has a secretive point of view
that is not fully revealed until halfway through the telling. How does the narrator’s
point of view make a significant impact on your understanding of the story in
these two ways: 1) as you were reading the story in class, and 2) now that the
story is over and the narrator is revealed.
By reading the story in class, it made me think that the narrator was a human
being and telling a story from that perspective. It makes the story seem like a
troubled relationship between the pair. Now that the story is over and the
narrator is revealed as a wolf. It changed the whole perspective of which we first
thought the story was being portrayed. This impacted my understanding of the
story greatly. It made me realize the little details that the narrator put as
foreshadowing and telling us that they're different.
10. This story is all about the reader’s perception. How did your own reading
skills and perceptive abilities affect your understanding of the plot, the
characters and their relationship? What role did close reading and putting
together context clues play in your experience of the story?
My reading skills helped pick up on the odd actions and odd word use in the
story. It helped me understand the plot a whole lot better by knowing what
was going on with the wife and her husband and not guessing. Close
reading and context clues helped give a better understanding and
experience in the story because it helps us not be totally confused and
totally lost as the story goes on and the views start to differ.
11. Situational irony is when the reader expects one thing to be true, but finds
another thing to be the case. What role did situational irony play in this story?
Situational irony in this story was a big thing, it made the readers rethink about
the whole story because of how the ending part turned out. We thought that
her husband was going out and doing things he wasn’t supposed to but it was
actually that he transformed into a different form and the wife was actually not
human at all.
