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Analyzing Katherine Brush's Short Story 'The Birthday Party'

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A Reversed Reaction How would you react in a situation where someone gives you a surprise with good intentions? Most would be flattered and excited, but we see something very different in Katherine Brush’s short story “The Birthday Party”. The wife surprises her husband by setting up a show that includes a performance of the “Happy Birthday” song and ends with the husband being presented with a cake topped with a pink candle. Because of this surprise, we see the husband’s emotions change from neutral to embarrassed to angry. This short story illustrates that given a situation where people have different perceptions, someone may react to things done with good intentions in an unpleasant way. At first, the man and woman are acting neutral. The two people are eating their dinner when someone at a table next to them observes that “There was nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable” (1). The fact that there was “nothing conspicuous” shows that they were acting how others would expect, probably relaxed and not making a lot of noise. To enforce this idea, “nothing particularly noticeable” is added to show that they looked like an ordinary married couple. These are normal people, not acting either gleeful or unhappy. This shows that there was nothing other than the event that follows that could …show more content…

The waiters bring out a cake with a pink candle and the orchestra plays him a birthday song. Reacting to this, he becomes “hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him” (2). When he is described as “hotly”, this means he probably turned red, making it obvious to everyone that he did not enjoy the surprise. Also, “indignant” shows that he thought the surprise was unfair because he didn’t want the occasion to be such a big deal. This conveys that the husband does not enjoy being showcased in a public setting. The husband became embarrassed even though the wife had good

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