The Astronomer's Wife is a fictional story by Kay Boyle whose main character is Katherine Ames. The entire story revolves around the lifestyle and experiences Ames went through, as well as how the character interacted with her husband. The plot, setting, symbolism, and a point of view on this story are the main concern of this essay. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The plot of this story involves several events that define all the themes that the author presents to his audience. The author began the story by describing Ames as a character who holds a position of value in society. Ames did what a reader might call “dirty” jobs to allow people like her husband to buy time to think and discover. The relationship between Ames and her husband is based on the knowledge that her husband is a man of mind and spends most of his time studying, meditating, and contemplating the sky using his telescope on the roof. Another event that defines the plot of the story occurred when Ames led the plumber into the garden (Gale, 71). The character took the plumber to a room that was flooded and the plumber suspected that some ground line was damaged. She demonstrated a lot of innocence and made every attempt to portray respect for her husband. As for the point of this story, the narration of the story is limited to third person. Boyle gives a narration that is very close to Katherine Ames' idea and gives a vivid description of her thoughts. She becomes the center of the story after she realizes that she has developed a feeling for the way her husband has blocked her emotional life. Furthermore, Boyle wrote the story using a style that reflects Ames's growing recognition of her feelings towards her husband. The narrative describes Mrs. Ames' thoughts using adjectives that reflect on the freedom she possessed in her mind (Hall, 96). However, the sentences become shorter as the narrator begins to describe Mrs. Ames' actions and her interaction with the plumber. The shortening of sentences shows how the character feels limited. Symbolism is one of the stylistic devices used by the author to explain various ideas in the story. The author used the sewer to represent the doorway to Mrs. Ames's transformation as a person. The sewer represents the great differences between the astronomer and the plumber. The plumber's profession requires him to come down to the earth while the astronomer's ideas focus on exploring the heavens (Bell, 127). The story of the cud is a symbol that shows the desire developed by the plumber to make things right. The plumber approached all the problems with a lot of confidence and created a sense of trust in Mrs. Ames. It made Ames admire her qualities over those of her husband. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The setting of this story emerged as a family story involving a woman (Mrs. Ames) and her husband. The whole story is set in a family, and the author's main concern is to explain the daily lives of the two characters. A garden is another set in the story that led to the inclusion of the plumber as a character in the narrative. This makes Boyle a thoughtful poet and novelist whose ideas induce many changes in the minds of many readers of the story. This makes The Astronomer's Wife a hilarious story to read.