So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men

“The woman could cook; even now, he had to say that much for her. But a part of him always resented the number of dirty dishes, having to rinse them all before stacking them in the dishwasher—except for the roasting dish which she usually said they could leave to soak overnight, and was still there in the sink when he got back from work on Mondays.”

The way that Cathal thinks about Sabine, her cooking, and her habits reveals his misogynistic viewpoints. He refers to Sabine as “the woman” rather than by her name, thus voiding her of her individuality. He also resents her habit of leaving dirty dishes “in the sink” instead of washing them right after cooking, conveying his belief that Sabine isn’t fulfilling her female and domestic responsibilities. In these ways, the passage contributes to the theme of How Misogyny and Patriarchal Gender Roles Threaten Women’s Lives and Safety.

“‘About making a life, a home, here with me. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t live here instead of paying rent. You like it here—and you know neither one of us is getting any younger.’ She was looking at him, one eye looking directly into his and the other’s gaze a little off, to one side.”

Cathal’s tone in this scene of dialogue conveys his sexist biases. He is arguing that Sabine has no reason not to live with him and make a life with him. This argument implies that as a single woman, Sabine is vulnerable and in need of a man like Cathal. This subtext, however, contrasts with the way Sabine regards Cathal—one eye looking directly at him while the other looks “to one side.” The fixation of her one eye shows her standing up to Cathal and thus standing her ground; the positioning of her other eye highlights that she is looking out to a future independent of Cathal, as she can see beyond him and his emotional manipulations.

“He opened the window wide and looked out at the street, at the brightness of the houses across the way. This evening, a bunch of helium balloons was tied to a gate and there were children bouncing on an inflated castle. He drew the curtains together, closing out the laughter, the light, and instantly felt a little better.”

The image of Cathal closing the curtain is symbolic of his character’s avoidant tendencies. Cathal is in a state of denial. He doesn’t want to face the truth of his circumstances. He therefore closes out the world beyond, holing up in his insular, selfish reality. Indeed, the images of “brightness,” “balloons,” “children,” “castle,” “laughter,” and “light” evoke notions of happiness and life. Cathal doesn’t want to regard this scene because he doesn’t want to change.

“He’d told her that it didn’t matter, that she wasn’t fat—but she wouldn’t listen. That was part of the trouble: the fact that she would not listen, and wanted to do a good half of things her own way.”

Cathal’s frustrated tone in this passage reiterates his misogynistic viewpoints. He isn’t frustrated with Sabine for regarding her body in a negative light; rather, he is irritated that she isn’t taking his opinion as truth. The passage’s subtext thus implies that Cathal doesn’t believe Sabine has a right to her thoughts or opinions—especially if they conflict with his own.

“‘I just didn’t think it would be like this, is all,’ he said. ‘I just thought about your being here and having dinner, waking up with you. Maybe it’s just too much reality.’”

Cathal’s response to Sabine’s belongings the day she moves in shows his disregard for her individuality and autonomy. Her belongings are evidence of her presence which is “too much reality” for Cathal. He doesn’t want Sabine to take up space in his home or his life. Rather, he wants her to quietly fulfill her expected gender role without disrupting his autonomy and freedom.

“It occurred to him that he would not have minded her shutting up right then, and giving him what he wanted. He felt the possibility of making a joke, of defusing what had come between them, but couldn’t think of anything and then the moment passed and she turned her head away. That was the problem with women falling out of love; the veil of romance fell away from their eyes, and they looked in and could read you.”

Cathal’s internal monologue reiterates How Misogyny and Patriarchal Gender Roles Threaten Women’s Lives and Safety. Cathal is privately owning the fact that he sees Sabine as lesser than himself. He wants to make a joke to defuse her upset with him because he wants to dismiss her feelings and opinions. The joke is also Cathal’s way of quieting Sabine and thus robbing her of her voice. The passage has a sardonic tone which underscores Cathal’s refusal to take Sabine seriously. He is also internally scoffing at Sabine because he is afraid that she can see through him.

“She must have been near sixty years of age at that time, as she had married late, but his father had laughed—all three of them had laughed, heartily, and had kept on laughing while she picked the pancakes and the pieces of the broken plate up, off the floor.”

This flashback provides insight into Cathal’s character and shows How Relationships Shape and Clarify Personal Desires. In this memory, Cathal’s brother pulls the chair out from under his mother, and he, Cathal, and their father laugh at her. The scene has a humiliating mood and a mocking tone. It therefore emphasizes that Cathal has had misogynistic views since he was young and implies that he learned these views from his relationship with his father.

“He kept after the wasp, making bigger, braver swipes until it flew back to the window to get away from him and he had it cornered between the pane and sill, and killed it.”

The wasp that Cathal chases around his apartment is symbolic of annoyance, specifically, the annoyance Cathal feels with the women in his life. He chases the wasp until he finally smashes and kills it—an image that shows his disregard for life. This scene echoes Cathal’s behaviors in his relationship with Sabine and shows how his sexism, entitlement, and dominance have threatened her safety.

“It was a fine paragraph but when she reached its end she felt her eyes closing, and happily she turned out the light knowing that tomorrow would be hers, to work and read and walk along the roads and to the shore.”

The narrator uses a meditative, contemplative tone in this passage to evoke a peaceful narrative mood. Keegan uses these literary techniques to enact the woman’s state of mind upon settling in at Böll House. The house is symbolic of solitude, quiet, and possibility for her. She is therefore basking in her new environs because she feels free and autonomous. Furthermore, her physical surroundings have a positive effect on her psyche.

“The woman stopped the car and walked to the spot from which the hen had flung herself. A part of her did not want to look over the cliff—but when she did she there saw the hen with several others, scratching or lying contentedly in a pit of sand on a grassy ledge not far below.”

The image of the hens playing happily in the dirt is symbolic of the contentment women find in both freedom and female relationships. The hen has just “flung herself” over the edge of the cliff—evoking notions of adventure, risk, and bravery. The woman fears for the hen’s life but discovers that the hen is not only safe but also happily enjoying the company of the other hens below. These images represent both the risks and rewards that women can experience in liberating themselves from prescribed gender roles and living their lives on their own terms.

“When the water reached her ribs, she took a breath, rolled onto her back and swam far out. This, she told herself, was what she should be doing, at this moment, with her life. She looked at the horizon and found herself offering up thanks to something she did not sincerely believe in.”

The water imagery in this scene is symbolic of renewal, relaxation, and redemption. The woman is submerging herself in the water, rolling on her back and swimming—imagery that evokes notions of both baptism and freedom. Indeed, the references to “offering up thanks” and “something she did not sincerely believe in” allude to religion and highlight that this peaceful bathing moment is spiritually rejuvenating for the woman. Enjoying her body and the natural world by herself offers the woman a sense of peace and contentment.

“‘Many people want to come here,’ he said. ‘I have seen these applications. There are many applications to come here.’ He stretched out his arms and looked from one hand to the other and at all the empty space in between. ‘Many, many applications.’”

The German man’s accusatory tone in this scene of dialogue threatens the woman’s emotional safety and formerly idyllic solitude. The man has not only intruded upon the woman’s physical space—stretching out his arms into the room—but is also actively interrogating the woman’s right to the residency. His words, behaviors, and mannerisms rob the woman of her dignity and show how misogynistic viewpoints actively dehumanize her.

“What an awful man! What an awful, angry man, she thought as she locked the door. Had he no sense? And to think of all the trouble she had gone to…She looked at the cake and felt like throwing it out the window, after him.”

The woman’s internal monologue after the German man leaves the Böll House captures her frustration and disgust with his behavior, evident in her repeating of the word “awful.” She is frustrated with how he treated her, especially in light of the graciousness she showed him. Although she’s mad at the man, she also directs this frustration at herself—contemplating throwing the cake she made “out the window.” This is because the man has tainted the cake—a symbol of the woman’s hospitality and generosity.

“She thought of the men she had known and how they had proposed marriage and how she had said yes to all of them but hadn’t married one. She felt great fortune, now, in not having married any of these men and a little wonder at ever having said she would.”

The woman’s reflections on her ex-fiancés contribute to How Relationships Shape and Clarify Personal Desires. In the narrative present, the woman feels glad that didn’t marry any of the men who proposed to her. Time and space have helped her see that she didn’t need these men to value herself or to enjoy her life. This is why she struggles to reconcile her involvement with them—something that seems out of character for her in retrospect.

“When she got up, she felt stiff and pleased. She looked out at the morning striking the road beyond the trembling hedge and knew the time for sleep had come and gone. As she put the kettle on to boil and reached for the cake at the back of the fridge, she stretched herself and knew she was preparing for his long and painful death.”

When the woman writes the short story about the German man, she is both exacting her revenge against him and reclaiming her autonomy, as the story will end in “his long and painful death.” In this scene, which ends the short story, the woman feels stiff, sore, and tired, but these uncomfortable feelings please her because she has sacrificed comfort to spend time doing something for herself. The image of the cake is also recontextualized in this passage because now the woman can enjoy the fruits of her labor for herself.

“That weekend she was determined to find out. It was December; she felt a curtain closing on another year. She wanted to do this before she got too old. She was sure she would be disappointed.”

The woman’s decision to have an affair when she goes Christmas shopping in the city launches her Quest for Identity, Autonomy, and Fulfillment. In the context of her marital and home life, she has few opportunities for exploration. She also feels time running out to have an adventure—a notion captured via the metaphor of the “curtain closing on another year.” This passage thus establishes the stakes for the short story and conveys the woman’s desire for freedom.

“He turned out to be a real talker, told her his life story, how he worked nights at the old folks’ home. How he lived alone, was an orphan, had no relations except a distant cousin he’d never met. There was no ring on his finger. ‘I’m the loneliest man in the world,’ he said.”

The way that the man talks about himself when he and the woman first meet foreshadows his alienated circumstances and his antagonistic nature. He doesn’t have any real connections and therefore spends all his time alone. His isolation is a sign of his reclusiveness and thus foreshadows how trapped the woman will become by him.

“She closed her eyes and listened to him work the lather, tapping the razor against the sink, shaving. It was like they’d done it all before. She thought him the least threatening man she’d ever known.”

The scene of the woman and man in the bathroom together establishes a simultaneously comforting and foreboding mood. She thinks the man is harmless because his behaviors are so familiar to her and closes her eyes due to feelings of comfort. However, categorizing him as “the least threatening man she’d ever known” foreshadows the violence to come, which will have perilous consequences for the woman.

“‘I know what you need,’ he said. ‘You need looking after. There isn’t a woman on earth doesn’t need looking after. Stay there.’ He went out and came back with a comb, began combing the knots from her hair. ‘Look at you,’ he said. ‘You’re a real blond. You’ve blond fuzz, like a peach.’”

The image of the man scrubbing the woman’s body and combing her hair captures his distorted way of seeing her. He treats her like a child, pet, or doll and even likens her to a peach. This imagery depicts notions of tenderness and consumption. In these ways, this scene of alleged caretaking is also a scene of sexual violence; the moment foreshadows what the man will do to the woman at the end of the short story.

“She sipped her wine and felt the cold sliding down into her stomach. She could hear him chopping vegetables, the bubble of water boiling on the stove. Dinner smells drifted through the rooms. Coriander, lime juice, onions. She could stay drunk; she could live like this.”

The woman’s emotional response to being at the man’s house reiterates her desire for a new experience, specifically a chance to live her life differently. The narrator uses diction like “sliding,” “bubble,” “boiling,” and “drifted” which evoke notions of a dreamlike comfort. She is enjoying herself because she doesn’t think she’s occupying the same gender role she occupies at home. At the same time, this passage also foreshadows her fate at the story’s end. She imagines “staying drunk” and “living like this” forever—which is essentially what happens to her when the man chains her to the bed and abandons her at the story’s end.

“They settled down to sleep, she with her head captured in the crook of his shoulder. He stroked her arm, petting her like an animal. She imitated the cat purring, rolling her r’s the way they’d taught her in Spanish class, while hailstones rapped the window panes.”

The vivid imagery in this passage creates an ominous, violent mood, which foreshadows the woman’s fate at the story’s end. The woman’s head is “captured in the crook of the man’s shoulder,” which evokes notions of entrapment. The man “strokes her arm” and “pets her like an animal,” which evokes notions of control and dehumanization. The woman “imitates the cat purring” which is a performance of comfort and docility. Finally, the image of the “hailstones rapped the window panes” forebodes coming danger.

“‘I was married once, went off to Africa for a honeymoon,’ he said suddenly. ‘It didn’t last. I had a big house, furniture, all that. She was a good woman, too, a wonderful gardener. You know that plant in my living room? Well, that was hers. I’ve been waiting for years for that plant to die, but the fucking thing, it keeps on growing.’”

The man’s description of the rubber plant in his living room underscores the plant’s symbolic significance. Although he has tried to kill the plant for many years, the plant “keeps on growing”—thus conveying notions of resilience, perseverance, and immortality. Because the plant belonged to his wife, the plant symbolizes women’s innate will to survive even amidst harrowing circumstances.

“She wasn’t in the mood for sex. In her mind she was already gone, was facing her husband in the station. She felt clean and full and warm; all she wanted now was a good snooze on the train. But in the end she could think of no reason not to go and, yielding like a parting gift to him, said yes.”

The woman sacrifices her comfort to appease the man, a decision that shows How Misogyny and Patriarchal Gender Roles Threaten Women’s Lives and Safety. The woman knows what she wants and how she feels, but she decides not to vocalize her thoughts. She feels that she owes the man “a parting gift,” which is why she dismisses her needs and gives in to the man’s demands. This passage also marks a pivotal turning point in the short story, in that deciding to go home with the man before her train results in the man imprisoning her.