"How I Met My Husband"

                The characterization and tone employed by Alice Munro in “How I Met My Husband” greatly contributes to the reader’s understanding and interpretation of the motivation behind the character’s actions. For example, Edie is indirectly characterized as a very innocent and naïve young girl through several of her comments throughout of the story as well as her confusion over the meaning of the term “intimacy.” This revelation of Edie’s innocence enhances the reader’s understanding as to why Edie was so entranced by Chris Watters. While reminiscing, Edie remarks that, “I wasn’t old enough then to realize how out of the common it is, for a man to say something like that to a woman… for a man to say a world like beautiful” (Munro, 135). Although Edie may appear to be somewhat idiotic for genuinely expecting to receive a letter from Chris for such a long period of time, this characterization of Edie as a very simple-minded and naïve girl offer a reasonable explanation. Indirect characterization also contributes to the plot in other minor ways as well. For example, the fact that Chris and Alice return from their date and walk off separately without really even acknowledging each other indicates that their relationship must not be highly fortified by love or romance. This indirect characterization of Chris provides the reader with some insight into what his motives may have been in kissing Edie. Another example of the role of characterization in the overall plot of the story is seen in Mrs. Peebles. Although she is initially characterized as a spoiled woman who knows very little of how to be a housewife and somewhat of a foil character to Edie, her actions in defending Edie to Loretta Bird actually characterize her as someone who ultimately cares for Edie and wishes to protect her.

                Edie’s tone while narrating the story of how she encountered Chris and eventually met the mailman also contributes to the overall meaning of the work, which was essentially to merely recount the events which led up to her first encounters with her future husband. While the reader may initially be outraged by Chris’s actions in kissing Edie and seemingly taking advantage her, a closer look at Edie’s tone indicates that she never felt as though she was truly being taken advantage of. In fact, Munro utilizes tone to hint that Edie saw no wrong in Chris’s actions or her own while they were in his tent. Moreover, when Edie speaks of marrying her husband, her diction and tone suggest that she may not feel a great deal of love towards this husband. When talking of her husband, Edie merely says that, “…I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him, and we were engaged a year more while I got my things together, and then we did marry” (Munro, 146). While nothing in Edie’s tone proves that she regrets marrying the mailman, nothing about her diction supports the idea that she truly loved him or was happy with him, either. This leads the reader to question her motivation in marrying the mailman. Without such complex characterization and tone, “How I Met My Husband” would like many intriguing components of its plot.