Say Yes

What do the “two mutts” outside the house signify? Why does the husband decide not to “heave rocks at them,” as he usually does?

Why do we know the wife’s name, but not the husbands? What does this add to her character or the story? Why does the narration refuse to name either character?

What does the husband mean when he says, “If you were black you wouldn’t be you?” Does this stance completely undermine his wife’s argument?

When the husband concedes, finally admitting to his wife that he would marry her, does he believe it? Or is this a performance to appease her?

What drives the husband to clean the whole house? How does cleaning work within the story?

Ultimately, who “wins” the argument? Does anybody? What might the future of the couple’s relationship look like?

When the husband cleans the kitchen it looks “the way it looked when they were first shown the house.” And when he gets into bed, “his heart [pounds] the way it had on their first night together.” What makes the husband return to these early memories of their relationship?

What does the husband suspect of his wife by the end of the story?