How I Met My Husband by Alice Munro
4. Is Edie a sympathetic character? How does her status as "the hired girl" affect the way you respond to her as a reader?
I don't believe it was so much the fact that Edie was the hired help that made her a sympathetic character. It was more the fact that she was so young and naive that caused the reader to look upon her situation with sympathy. There are many instances in the story where I sort of found myself shaking my head at Edie and wondering how she could be so gullible and naive. She was ignorant to think that Chris was going to be committed to just her because he is literally running away from his own "fiancee". She sits by the mailbox waiting for this letter that is never going to come and I feel so bad for her. She is also ignorant of the definition of "intimate" when she is being interrogated by the ladies. She doesn't know that they don't mean just kissing. Finally, in the beginning of the story, Edie is reminiscing on the fact that Chris called her beautiful and, at the time, she had no idea that he was flirting with her when he calls her beautiful. Edie says, "For a man to say a word like beautiful. I wasn't old enough to realize or to say anything back, or in fact to do anything but wish he would go away" (Munro 135). This also adds to the reminiscent tone of the story where a much older and wiser Edie was looking back on her ignorance and retelling this naive "love" affair.
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