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Unit 8 Courtship Through the Ages Wilma Hu The Little Man VS. The Thurber Wife The Little Man: domestic, frustrated, childlike, not sexual, suspicious, stubborn. The Thurber Wife: demanding, capable, manipulating, domineer, confident, unimaginative (All qualities opposite of the little man’s) James Thurber’s Marriage Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Thurber remarried in June 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66. He suffered from alcoholism and depression, but Helens devoted nursing enabled him to maintain his literary production. Even though the second marriage was more successful, but, surprisingly, the women of later stories are portrayed as more threatening. Thurber’s Changing Attitudes toward Women:Misogyny, Envy, and Admiration Thurber’s own comments in an interview with Max Eastman reveal contempt towards women: America is a matriarchy. It always has been, it always will be. The American Woman is my theme, and how she dominates the male. It became obvious to me when I was a child that the American woman was in charge. . . . I think it’s one of the weaknesses of America. . . . The mother dominates the son. . . . He says: “Hey —Mom! Can I do this—can I do that?’ Permission from ‘Mom’ is the big thing. . . . I don’t think there will be any revolt by the American man. In the series I did, “The War between Men and Women,’ the woman surrenders to the man, but you’ll notice in the drawings that each woman has a big rock . . . behind her back. In other words, the war is not over. --Thurber interviewed in The New Republic, May 16, 1958. (Kinney 532, ellipses in original quotation) (Unflattering portrayals of women were not personal revenge, but humorous devices) Text Comprehension Para. 1 Which sentence in the first paragraph contains the thesis of this essay? What do you think of this generalization?