Girls In Their Summer Dresses by Irwin Shaw, 1939
The magic trick:
Presenting an argument with minimal judgment, open for an audience of any era to interpret as they wish
I is for Irwin.
Today’s is a very simple story. It’s an argument between a husband and wife over the course of two scenes in New York City. She notices that he notices other women as walk down Fifth Avenue. He admits as much, adding that it’s one of the great joys of his living in Manhattan.
So, that’s interesting.
It’s difficult to know what the author’s agenda was here. Are we supposed to feel great sorrow for Frances? Are we supposed to feel that she is asking too much of her husband?
I’m not sure.
I’m not sure it matters though. The story doesn’t necessarily take sides. It’s a conversation, an argument, open for the reader to interpret however they’d like. In that sense, it’s a story that will never age.
And that’s quite a trick on Shaw’s part.
The selection:
“I try not to notice it,” Frances said, “but I feel rotten inside, in my stomach, when we pass a woman and you look at her and I see that look in your eye and that’s the way you looked at me the first time. In Alice Maxwell’s house. Standing there in the living room, next to the radio, with a green hat on and all those people.”
“I remember the hat,” Michael said.
“The same look,” Frances said. “And it makes me feel bad. It makes me feel terrible.”
“Sh-h-h, please darling, sh-h-h.”
“I think I would like a drink now,” Frances said.
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