The Husband's Story: A Novel

"The Husband's Story: A Novel" by David Graham Phillips is a story from the early 1900s that looks closely at marriage, wanting more in life, and fitting into a certain social class through the lives of Godfrey Loring and Edna Wheatlands. The story seems to center on how differently they see the world, family duties, and where they came from. We meet Godfrey Loring at the beginning, as he thinks about his past and how he ended up marrying Edna Wheatlands. He talks about their simple beginnings in Passaic, where their families weren't as wealthy as they wished they were. Godfrey shows how their lives changed little by little as they climbed the social ladder, with Edna always pushing for a higher position. The beginning builds up pressure between Godfrey's down-to-earth attitude and Edna's dreamy and sometimes shallow desires for a fancy and important life, hinting at the problems they will face as they try to make their marriage work with such different ideas.