Alice Munro's "How I Met My Husband" (1974)

Discussion Questions

1.) What is the setting of this story? Why is it important to the plot?

2.) What is the point of view? Is it appropriate for the story?

3.) Describe Edie. What type of person is she? Discuss the areas of her life in which she is a success and a failure. Although she is not book smart, she has intelligence in other areas. Identify them.

4.) How does the Peebleses' way of life differ from what Edie has known? Why are they so important to Edie? Explain the opposition of city and country throughout the story.

5.) What is Loretta Bird's function in the story?

6.) Munro has invented an extremely human narrator. What details and description does she use to convey Edie's humanity? Is Munro sympathetic to Edie? How does Edie's adult perspective influence her memories?

7.) Why is Chris Watters so important to Edie? How does he treat her? What is their relationship?

8.) Describe Alice Kelling. How does her presence cause Edie to act?

9.) Explain what Edie means when she says, "I didn't figure out till years later the extent of what I had been saved from."

10.) What does Edie discover about herself in the story? Does she compromise her beliefs or simply make a decision at the end?

11.) How would you classify the women in the story? Which ones go "all through life waiting" and which are "busy and not waiting"? What is the distinction between the two types of women, and what is Munro's philosophy on this issue?

12.) Compare and contrast teenage heroines in Alice Munro's story and in one other story we've read.

13.) Compare and contrast the points of view of the teenage girls in Alice Munro's story and in one other story we've read.