Rice Husband

"I believe that everything happens for a reason." -Marilyn Monroe
(a.k.a. Rice Husband)


3. I doubt that Lena's mom was pyschic. I think her predictions were just coincidences. That's all. Goshdarnnit, I wish Harold would stop dealing with numbers with Lena. They're husband and wife, for goodness sakes! It's immoral to split prices with your partner in life like that. Their house sounds really nice, fancy schmancy. Were Harold and Lena really in love? What is love? I think Lena's mom is being really "ASDFKL;" when she tells Lena about the pock-mark man, scaring Lena, making Lena eat all the rice in her bowl, then telling her, "But that's still too bad. Yesterday, there was still rice in your bowl." What does she expect Lena to do: travel back in time and finish all the rice in her bowl?! Geez, she learned her lesson; now leave the poor girl alone. I think it's crazy that Lena would not eat to make Arnold suffer. Scientifically, that is not possible and outright crazy. Ooh, Lena's father dabbing his bacon into his egg yolks sound really good. And if Arnold was really destined to be Lena's husband, then Lena changed her own fate by "killing Arnold" so she got Harold. Did Lena marry Harold because she wanted him to herself and not other women? Geez, Lena was by his side the whole time, encouraging him, lending him money to start his business, giving him tips and ideas and what does she get in return? NEGLECT FROM HER HUSBAND. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't even be that successful. Harold doesn't want to admit this and it's stupid how selfish and insensitive he is. I wouldn't mind at all if Lena got a divorce. However, that tantrum that Lena threw at the end of the chapter was kind of a random outburst. I would have been frightened if I were Harold, after all those years and suddenly, BOOM. Why doesn't she want to confront Harold again?



4. Lena does not take action in her marriage. I think she is afraid to speak up and control part of her life with Harold because she doesn't want to lose her marriage and all she has worked for. When her mother visits, she knows that her mother will see the destruction in Lena's marriage. She awaits it and knows that what her mother will say is true, but she tries to deny it for some reason.


5. I think the main conflict is split into two parts. Lena and Harold (external: man vs. man) struggle in their marriage to keep things in balance, forcing themselves to split everything into two; yet, Lena struggles against herself (internal: man vs. self) to confront to Harold that she is unhappy in the marriage. In the end, half of the conflict is resolved because Lena pulls herself together to confront to Harold that she feels something wrong about their marriage, but they still haven't decided what is wrong with it yet.


6. Up until now, for sure, the table that Harold made was the most obvious symbol in the whole book, to me. It symbolizes Lena and Harold's marriage. The fancy, yet poorly-constructed bedside table in the guest room represents their life together. Lena has tried to tell Harold to fix it, but Harold sees no point to fixing it. She wants to correct their fragile marriage, but Harold does not see what needs to be changed.


Emily Huynh, Period 4