Dept. of Speculation

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, suicidal ideation, cursing, and sexual content.

One day, the husband accuses the wife of putting them through too much. The next day, the girl demands that he go for a walk with her, which the wife doesn’t discover until she and the husband meet up in the park to further discuss their situation. The wife silently invents jokes about a husband, wife, and mistress to amuse herself.

The wife starts reading a new book on civilization. She also reads studies of “the pain involved in romantic breakups” (135). Despite their heartbreak, she and the husband sometimes hold hands in bed. Meanwhile, the wife meditates on lines from Yeats and Keats. One day, she accuses the husband of turning her into a cartoon. She still doesn’t know how to make sense of their situation and struggles to field her married friends’ questions. She usually either cries or shrugs when they mention the husband’s affair.

The wife realizes that she doesn’t want her marriage to end. Sometimes she imagines having sex with different people, but she’s good at controlling herself. Sometimes her friends ask her if she has a secret life, but she can’t think of any secrets she’s keeping that aren’t banal.