"I am Mrs. Ames," spoken soft as a willow weeping.”
Mrs. Ames familiarizes herself to the plumper through voice is comparable to a “willow weeping.” The faintness of her voice heightens her femininity. Mr. Ames's repression triggers the weeping-like voice which signifies Mrs. Ames despondency.
“The mystery and silence of her husband's mind lay like a chiding finger on her lips”
Mr. Ames tyrannizes Mrs. Ames, even when they are not in close proximity, in the same way as a “chiding finger” would. The husband subdues her to the degree that she cannot converse liberally as she is certain that her husband would reprimand her.
“Desert-like they stretched behind and before the articulation of his scorn”
The desert-like “expanses of the astronomer’s silence” are typical of the exchanges between the Astronomer and his wife. The astronomer articulates his judgments without restrictions and his wife’s prevailing response is commendatory reception of her husband’s opinions. However, the astronomer ridicules her during the dialogues. The expansive silence infers that the Astronomer dictates the conversations. The wife’s involvement entails paying attention, expressing appreciation and absorbing his mockery.
“life is an open sea…to survive women cling to the floating debris on the tide”
The metaphor of ‘an open sea ‘draws attention to the hindrances that women encounter in life. The only alternative that woman got is attaching on debris; or else, they would not persist. Mrs. Ames’s situation is comparable to latching onto the debris, of tyranny, that her husband has unleashed on her life.
