"His Vegetable Wife" Essay

In 1986, Pat Murphy wrote the science fiction short story, "His Vegetable Wife". With analyzing this story, there is much evidence that it could be about abusive relationships between men and women.

In the story, the author is the narrator because she (it doesn't specify in the story the author's gender and only further study can it be determined) shows the reader glances into both the main characters, yet most often tells what Fynn is thinking. Only three characters are in the story; two males and the vegetable wife, although only Fynn and the wife really matter in the story. The wife could be considered a woman, but it is uncertain whether or not she is even human. Most of the attention is to the vegetable wife, however only Fynn speaks and there is very little dialogue when conversing with the other characters.

Fynn is a man that decides to grow a vegetable wife. The whole time in the story, it hints a possibility that he had grown one or many women before unsuccessfully. Interpretations from this could show that it's possible of a person abusing more than once before. Even before the vegetable wife is fully grown, he sexually abuses her, as well as after she is grown, and violence then also resulted in the abuse Fynn was already committing. All during the abuse, she appears to show no emotion. That is, until the ending when the author shows a glimpse into her consciousness to the reader. At this time, she kills him and does exactly what was done to her; she plants him to see what would grow.

As the story opens, it's apparent that even while the vegetable wife is growing, Fynn has already committed sexual abuse. All throughout the story, it hints of someone growing up in an abusive environment. In this case, she is supposed to feel no pain, because "the instructions had said so", while he kept her as a "thing". Fynn also tried to make himself feel better by believing the instructions were true.

At one point, Fynn becomes irritated by the sounds and actions of the stalks and the tall grass, which shows that there could have been other vegetable women. In paragraph nineteen, it states, "She was silent, and he could hear the wind in her hair, like the wind in the tall grass." When making the reference to the vegetable wife's hair and about its likenesses, it supports the idea of others before her. Which then gives cause to him also finding enjoyment when cutting the grass, perhaps because in his mind he's taking revenge on all those that left him before. In paragraph four, it states, "He had enjoyed hacking down the grass that had surrounded the living dome.." This exhibits characteristics for pleasure in killing or simply hurting other living things, which would make sense of him to continue the abuse.

Another supporting detail would be that he already begins to tie her up even before she turns ripe. Possibly, another vegetable woman ran away before he noticed her missing, showing that he's not going to make the same mistake again. The vegetable wife could think. She was cleaver enough to try and escape from the ties of the rope around her ankles twice. Fynn had to begin to suspect that she could think for herself, otherwise he would not have thought to put on the rope in the first place. It could be that she couldn't feel the physical pain however, because even as he tried to choke her she did not respond to it, but only did the same to him to have him react instead. Again, she could have been thinking that may work to help herself free. Yet, she could feel the emotional pain from his raping her. She could cry, and she could try to get away from that pain by trying to saw the rope with a knife and not sleeping with him. Although she could not speak, she would push Fynn away to get her thoughts across to him, in hope he'd have second thoughts of his actions towards her.

Fynn is shown as a man that sexually abuses another person. It doesn't matter whether or not the other person was an alien, a woman, or a plant. After reading the short story, the reader may change their outlook of the male gender (or perhaps the female gender). Typically, men are by far more often accused to sexual abuse to women then vice versa, which could be a result to how someone looks at gender today. Stereotypes work well with stories because it seems readers can relate or understand them more, which is much more effective for the author and his or her work. Many details in the story support the idea that it was abuse and the vegetable wife could in fact think and know that what he was doing was wrong. This story could be yet another look at abuse facing people everyday, even if we aren't vegetables.

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