A Sorrowful Woman

A Sorrowful Woman, by Gail Godwin

I am concerned for the husband in the story. I believe he is the one ultimately responsible for the death of his wife. He did everything he could to keep her from getting the help she really needed, like a practicing physician, or new environment. I was thinking she really needed a vacation from her problems, similar to that of Bob Wiley from the movie What About Bob? Whatever the answer, he didn't provide the correct solution to her problem.

although she struggled with a serious mental disorder, i don't believe it was long term and I believe that she could have recieved help given the proper care. She was sick of his gentleness, so sick she wanted nothing to do with either one of them. She hit the child, but only when the husband was looking, it was premeditated. She Fired the girl for no apparent reason. She locked herself in a room brushing her hair and writing all day long and through it all her husband was understanding.

Their son is the one who suffers from his mothers condition and his fathers inability to make a loving decision for his wife. His unbelieveable decisions should make the reader question his own mental stability and further his responsibility as a husband and a father.