“I am not in anything I have a desire to get out of… He promised this morning that he was going to quit having these poker parties, but you know how long such a promise is going to keep. Oh, well, it’s his pleasure, like mine is movies and bridge. People have go to tolerate each other’s habits, I guess” (74).
The parallel Stella draws between her harmless habits of movies and bridge and Stanley’s poker nights depicts that she is content in her seemingly unsafe and unhealthy marriage. She pardons her husband for his actions the night before by attributing them to his drunken state. Not only does she excuse her husband, but she also does not expect him to uphold his promise to “quit having these poker nights.” Stella’s calmness in regards to the previous nights actions depicts both that this is a regular occurrence and that she is content with the perpetual cycle of Stanley’s poker nights. Stella does not show any speck of “desire to get out of” her marriage. Stella’s composure after a night of such destruction begs the question of what is keeping her content in her dreadful marriage. Is it she because she has no other option, because she is blinded by her supposed love for “bestial” Stanley, or because she is truly content in her lifestyle?
Mary-Stella's contentment with Stanley's abusive behavior is indeed puzzling-all the more so in that Stella seems otherwise so sane. Or at least she does in comparison to Blanche. Then again, this "contentment" is a typical feature of an abusive relationship, along with the excuse-making that we see in her. She doesn't seem all that self-aware.
ReplyDelete