The Wife

"As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foilage about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered boughs; so is it beautifully ordered by Providence, the woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart."

-The Wife, pg. 65

This excerpt relates to not only the couple featured in the story, but also to everyone in real life. Both the tree and vines are personified to be a man and a woman, and the woman is tending to the mans "wounds." The irony in this passage, though, is that the man has the broken heart. Men are almost always described as the stronger of the two sexes- they are untouchable. Women have to deal with pain, not men. The story, though, focuses on Leslie's paranoia regarding his new wife, Mary. Instead of Mary constantly worrying of what Leslie will think of her, Leslie drives himself into a depression. This displays that everyone experiences pain. Just because you're a man doesn't mean you can't cry. When the story wraps up, Irving alludes back to his previous imagery- "A wild vine had overrun one end with a profusion of foliage; a few trees threw their branches gracefully over it..." Irving uses this nature theme to display that men feel pain, but women are usually the ones to heal, and hurt, the wounds.