The story, like Updike's
Rabbit, Run (1960), is written in the
present tense, employing the
second-person singular "you" when the protagonist addresses his wife. "Wife-Wooing" is part of the Maples family saga, first collected in
Too Far to Go: The Maples Stories (1979) No plot develops, and though unnamed, the married couple are Joan and Richard Maple. The story opens in what appears to be an interlude of domestic bliss; a husband and wife are enjoying a simple repast in front of a warm fireplace with their three young children. The husband reflects that they have been married for seven years. He is still moved by his wife's body, and pleasurably contemplates that her thighs resemble those of a female character in
James Joyce's novel
Ulysses. He notes to himself how immeasurably more difficult it is to court a prospective wife than to merely seduce an inexperienced girl. The children quarrel over their meal that the father has picked up at a near-by fast-food outlet, but they are indulged by their parents. The husband draws strength from his wife and yearns for sexual intimacy. He reminds her of their honeymoon and the consummation of marriage. His idealized memory of their love-making that night is not shared by the wife. After putting the children to bed, she retires to the bedroom and falls asleep before he can initiate sex. In the morning, the husband has lost his carnal desires. In the clamor of the demands by their children at breakfast, his wife appears physically repellant. The husband departs the domain of domesticity and arrives at work where the imperatives of earning money are paramount. He returns home still preoccupied with his job. His wife administers his dinner as a perfunctory exercise. The children are sent to bed. The husband roams about smoking cigarettes that evening, still distracted by his job. In a daze, he prepares to go to bed. His wife enters the bedroom and bestows upon him a sweet and seductive kiss. ==Style and Theme==