The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter Women and Femininity Quotes

Let's assume that this haircut is typical of children in this culture. It's not very stylish, but functional. The haircut also suggests that these children haven't yet reached puberty and fallen into the strict separations between feminine and masculine, so their attraction is innocent puppy love.

Notice how the boy and girl remain neutral in many ways, and are only called "people" rather than "children" or "boy and girl." This emphasizes the purity of their childhood love before adult concerns, like money and loyalty, may have entered the picture.

Some of you may find this to be sexist, in that the man is portrayed as the lord of this woman, but we should be sensitive to cultural differences and understand that the original poem was written, oh, about 1,300 years ago.

Laughing seems to be the typical response to being bashful, but the wife seems to avoid laughing because it draws unwanted attention to her.

The wife lowers her head and looks at the wall to avoid eye contact. Could this be a sign of deference to her husband? Or is she simply being stubborn and ignoring him?

If she is ignoring her husband, she's either resisting his romantic advances or simply his attempts to get her attention. She's empowered in these moments.

The question is, does this mingling mean that the wife loses her own identity in the marriage, or is the "mingling" of dust a deep-felt and equal union between two people?

Usually we'd like to see a more "can do" attitude from our heroines today, but perhaps this is a metaphorical way of letting her husband know that his absence has a noticeable effect on her day-to-day life.