Grace Paley wrote a story, “Wants”, which deals with the fact that there is more to life than just wanting to have possession of a certain item. Sometimes when two people have different attitudes, outlooks, and values in life, their personalities tend to clash. This is exactly what happened to the two characters in the story. At the very beginning, a woman is at the library when her ex-husband walks by her.
“Hello my life” (8). Her husband replies bitterly by saying “What? What life? No life of mine” (8). The ex-husband selfishly makes it seem like he does not want to acknowledge the fact that they were married for 27 years. He clearly just “wants” to erase his ex-wife completely from his memory and move on.
However, that is obviously not possible for him to forget her entirely. The ex-husband could be described as a callow and materialistic person. “In many ways, as I look back, I contribute the dissolution of our marriage to the fact that you [ex-wife] never invited the Bertram’s to dinner” (8). After he says this, the ex-wife argues that she could not have had them over to dinner because her father was sick and her children were born. By blaming the marriage solely on the ex-wife, the ex-husband has proven himself to be an inconsiderate and irresponsible person because he was not willing to take any of the blame for the failed marriage. The ex-husband could also be seen as a materialistic person.
He claims that the other reason their marriage failed was because “I wanted a sailboat. But you [ex-wife] didn’t want anything” (9). The ex-wife is not like him because she is more of a family oriented person. She showed that by not inviting the Bertram’s to dinner at all because her family situations came first. Even though she was not a wealthy person and was not able to afford the sailboat, she always made sure that their children were provided for, and that they had everything they needed. Towards the end of the story, when the ex-wife quit arguing with her ex-husband, she gave the money for her library fine to the librarian and she went back to check out the two library books again.
The titles of the both of those books do have significance. They were The House of Mirth, and The Children. The titles are symbolic of the ex-wife’s wonderful personality, and the things in life that mean a lot to her. She is finally certain that she is going to change by forgetting her self-absorbed ex-husband and returning the books on time. She threw out her past and began again with a fresh start. It is too bad it took her so many years of her life to realize that the best thing for her was to move on, but it is a good thing she did otherwise she would still be married to her ex-husband, and she would still have a fine at the library.
The woman in the story is a really caring and compassionate person. She chose to consider other people’s opinions and feelings, especially the feelings of all of her family members. She also chose to listen to everything her ex-husband was saying, even though all of his harsh and negative comments were hurting her feelings. This story clearly shows that there is so much more that can be done in life than just worrying about having a lot of money and what to spend it on.