Two lives

The story presents two parallel stories of two women of the same age named Mary Louise and Mrs. Delahunt y. The two recoil into their own world full of their own imagination. In this respect, While Mrs. Delahunty ends up leading a good life after moving to Italy Mary Louise ends up into a miserable marriage with Elmer Quarry. She doesn’t have any knowledge of love, but view it as a fantasy. Consequently, she found herself vulnerable to Elmer’s sisters who constantly pester her. Though Elmer and Mary Louise are married, they are living a divided life without enjoying the fruits of marriage. Consequently, Elmer engages himself into drinking to avoid the reality of the miserable life they were living. Moreover, Mary Louise on the other hand retreats deeper into her fantasies instead of concentrating on improving her life. For instance, she becomes more obsessed with her widowed aunt as well as her unfounded cousin, Robert. She ends up falling for his cousin, who later passes away living her in desperation. This can be attributed to her previous mental disorder. Trevor argues that Mary Louise had spent 31 years having a mental disorder but later became normal (221). On this front, it may be argued that her mental condition had come back again. Her frustrations may have triggered her to become insane once again. On this note, the Irish authorities seem to have concluded about her insanity and thereby suggesting that she should continue taking her medicine to improve her mental. Her insanity may have influenced her to have a different view of life to extend of living a fantasy. However, her recent situation may also be attributed to the self-deceptions that consoled her miserable life as well as the delusions she was undergoing that may have influenced her to negate the reality.