THE ROPE by Katherine Anne Porter
Content
"Rope" is the story of an altercation that escalates into a marriage crisis. The author casts her
two characters in universalized roles, referring to them only as "he" and "she." The young
couple has just set up house in the country, and the story opens peacefully enough with the
man returning from doing the marketing in town. The two are in a playful mood as they
congratulate one another on looking their rural parts. But soon feathers are flying as the wife
picks a fight and the two slip into what appears to be well-practiced, mutually antagonistic
roles.
First Unit: The Quarrel
1. How does the quarrel originate?
The quarrel is triggered off by a fairly trivial oversight on the part of the husband
2. List the various issues the couple quarrel about. What is the pattern that emerges?
"she"
accusations, complaints, reactions
accuses him
- of having forgotten her coffee and of
being selfish (34 8-13)
- of having bought a useless coil of rope
instead (34 15-18)
→
- of having put the rope on top of the
basket, thus breaking the eggs (34 7-9)
→
complains about having to make do with
"second best and scraps and makeshifts"
(35 22)
accuses him of cluttering up her kitchen
with his stuff (35 30-32)
"he"
accusations, complaints, reactions
→
→
→ counter-accusation: she had put the hammer
← and nails there
accuses her
indignant denial and threat to throw his
← - of having an "insane habit of changing
tools "down the well" -(36 4)
→ things around and hiding them" (35 39)
— of needing someone to tyrannize and
← expresses his regret that they have no
children who might serve this purpose (36
11-13)
accuses him
threatens to leave her and never come back
- of usually clearing out when there is
← (36 21-23)
unpleasant work to do: "It was his usual → week denial: "this was going a little far" (36
trick" (36 28-29)
30); he had to stay in town to earn money
- of having had an affair (36 • 36-38)
→
repeats the accusation
misunderstanding; returns to the subject
of coffee, eggs, and rope
← counters by reminding her that she had called
→ those weeks "the happiest she had known"
since they had been married
1
← calls her "a hopeless melan-choliac" (37 2627) (this comes, unnecessarily, after a
"pause" in the quarrel where they had been
close to reconciliation);
accuses him of leaving her in the lurch by →
going to town now when she needs his
help with the mattresses
replies that it is not the coffee but
← tells her that her coffee-drinking habit is
something else (her house- -work? her
→ "making a wreck of her" (38 1)
husband?) that is making a wreck of her
pales with anger; reminds him that he
← accuses her of making herself a slave to the
should share in the housework and that
house and to her housework (38 6-7)
she has "other work to do as well" (38
→ importance of his job (brings in "the regular
10)
money"), unimportance of hers ("only
occasional") (38 12-15)
counters that this is beside the point; the
housework should be shared (38 16-19)
→
ridicules his remark; "hysterical" laughter
tries to pour water over her to calm her
↔
(38 21-26)
3. Why is the man so unsuccessful at ending the argument?
4. What could be the wife's real motives for "picking" the fight?
The wife's nagging, accusing behavior toward her husband gives evidence of a deeper
dissatisfaction in her. As the reader does not know anything about the characters beyond what
they themselves say, it would be futile to speculate on some deep-seated incompatibility or
unreconcilable differences between the couple. Their reconciliation at the end of the story,
even if only temporary, seems to contradict such a reading anyway.
5. What role does the man play in the quarrel?
2
6. Compare the final passage of the story (39 10-33) with the beginning (36 1-18). Study
similarities and differences.
first homecoming
second homecoming
she comes out to meet him
tumbled hair
scarlet nose
she has gone up to the road and is waiting for
him; she waves to him "from a distance"
young, smooth, freshlooking
funny hair
"a born country woman"
"a rural character in a play"
"Ootsum-Wootswms"
"he was a love"
(exchange of rather doubtful compliments)
(exchange of terms of endearment)
exchange of smiles, caresses
cooling air
hot day (the shirt "stuck to him")
dusty
"wiping her hands on her green /smock":
work, drudgery
"Had he brought the coffee?"
sweet air
"wasn't it fine to be here?": contentment
"Then she saw the rope. What was that for?"
"Why should he exchange it, if it was
something he really wanted,"
reconciliation?
beginning of quarrel
"Here was the coffee. He waved it at her."
7. How lasting do you think the reconciliation will be? What "danger signals" are there in the
text?
Second Unit: Narrative Technique
1. Whose perspective is the story told from?
3
2. What could be the significance of the title?
Additional Questions for Composition or Discussion
1. Pretend you are a marriage counselor and the couple of this story has come to you. How
would you go about helping them?
2. The author has not given names to her characters in order to indicate that they are
universal types. Does the story depict a typical marital situation or an exception to the
rule? Are love and marriage compatible?
3. Do you think that all the trouble could have been avoided if the man in the story had
handled the woman differently?
4. Do you think that this argument will leave permanent scars?
5. Is the "she" of "Rope" an emancipated woman?
6. What is it that this woman rejects in her husband? What does she reject in her role as
wife?
7. In what ways are both characters lacking in understanding?
34
2 coil a length of rope wound together –
3 smock a loose overgarment worn to protect one's clothes while working –
4 tumbled in disorder –
scarlet deep red –
6 rural of the countryside –
10 gosh sl. an exclamation of surprise, God –
16 laundry business that washes clothes, etc. for customers –
17 blot s.th. ugly –
19 to come in handy to be useful –
22 odds and ends bits and pieces –
30 to come in short for: to come in handy
35
2 to squeeze to press from all sides –
14 to scramble to cook eggs by beating them and then heating them in a saucepan with butter
and milk –
21 to choke to cause to stop breathing –
22 scrap small (usually unwanted) piece, leftover –
makeshift s.th. used for a time until s.th. better is obtainable –
4
even to the meat even including the meat –
35 to arch to bend the back –
to purr (of a cat) to make a low, continuous sound expressing pleasure –
to hiss to make the sound of s, expressing disapproval –
to claw to scratch like a cat –
28 to slap to strike with the open hand –
32 cluttered filled untidily –
37 sashes sliding window frames –
39 insane crazy
36
4 mess an untidy collection of things –
5 closet ['—] a small storage room –
6 broom instrument used for sweeping floors –
8 God-forsaken miserable –
9 What of it? So what? –
12 to heckle to interrupt with aggressive questions –
13 to take it out on s.o. coll. to work off one's frustration by attacking s.o. else –
17 forlorn lost and unhappy –
19 racket loud noise; dispute –
20 to hush to become quiet –
22 to clear out coll. to leave –
26 to get out from under coll. to escape a burden –
30 a touch a little bit - out of bounds too far (beyond the boundary line in a game) –
35 so help me coll. may God help me, if I'm lying –
36 notion idea –
40 to get hooked in coll. to get stuck
37
5 to rave to talk wildly –
8 to stick in one's craw to be a cause of anger for one (craw = bird's throat) –
13 wretched causing discomfort, miserable –
15 from underfoot out of the way –
17 mitt (short for "mitten") kind of glove enclosing the four fingers together and the thumb
separately –
skillet frying pan –
19 milk of magnesia medicine for an upset stomach –
drugstore store that sells drugs and usually a variety of other goods –
20 to swelter to be extremely hot –
31 to topple to fall –
33 second sight power to see future events –
34 to ditch s.o. coll. to leave, to put an end to a relationship
38
8 livid pale or purple with anger –
22 uproarious extremely funny –
26 to dash to rush suddenly –
27 dipper a large spoon with a cup-shaped bowl and a long handle –
30 to wrench to pull or twist suddenly and violently –
33 lane a narrow road or path –
34 blister a bag-like swelling on the skin, filled with watery liquid –
5
to break to come to a crisis; to happen –
37 sieve [srv] instrument with holes in it for separating solid pieces from the rest of a
substance –
38 to humor s.o. to give in to s.o.'s wishes, even if they are senseless
39
11 to broil to cook on a fire, to grill –
23 to jostle ['dsosl] to push –
24 wary cautious –
25 Ootsum-Wootsums term of endearment in the form of baby-talk –
28 whippoorwill a North American bird with a call that resembles the sound of its name –
29 crab-apple a kind of small sour apple –
30 to stand s.o. up si. to fail to keep an appointment with s.o.
6