“Say Yes” is a short story written by Tobias Wolff

Tobias Wolff

Tobias Jonathan Ansell Wolff is an American author. He is known for his memoirs, particularly This Boy's Life , and his short stories. He has also written two novels.-Biography:Wolff was born in 1945 in Birmingham, Alabama...

in 1985. This story is about a husband and wife discussing the issue of interracial marriage. While she feels that race should not be a factor when marrying someone, he disagrees saying, “how can you understand someone who comes from a completely different background”. The discussion between the married couple confronts the theories on identity, race, and love.

Plot Summary

The story begins in the late evening with a husband and his wife, Ann, doing the dishes. As she washes and he dries them, the subject of white people marrying black people comes up. He feels that they could never really know each other, because they come from completely different cultures. Ann becomes upset and carelessly wipes the dishes; her husband realizing they aren’t clean throws the dishes back in the sink and Ann cuts her hand.
He rushed to the bathroom, grabbed the necessary items, and cleaned and bandaged her cut. He then continued with the dishes as she stayed on the conversation asking if he would marry her if she was black. After stating reasons why they probably wouldn’t have even dated if she was black and saying she wouldn’t be herself, Ann urged on with the question her husband finally ending the conversation with a no.
The husband cleaned the entire kitchen and when he took out the garbage he thought of the argument he and his wife just had and their life together. When he came in the house Ann was in the bathroom. He apologized through the closed door and promised to make it up to her. When she questioned this, he said he would marry her. She tells him to go to bed and to turn off the lights as she comes up the stairs. As he laid there waiting for her in the darkness and silence his heart began to pound, the way his heart pounded their first night together or when hearing the sound of a stranger in the house.

Character

The characters of this story are Ann and her husband, who remains unnamed throughout the story. Ann is upset with her husband for his views on interracial marriage. She shows her emotions in the story by pinching her eyebrows and biting her lower lip, carelessly doing the dishes, and rapidly flipping the pages of the magazine. The husband was viewed by Ann’s friend as a considerate husband who helped her around the house a lot. He didn’t care if he hurt his wife by having an opposing view point in an argument. He is seen as a less than genuine person, doing things out of effect rather than sincere desire. This is proven when he hoped she would drop their conversation because he bandaged her cut. Closer to the end of the story he begins to show concern for his wife saying he would marry her.