the main female character that contributes more meaning to the whole story. Finding the meaning behind the symbols helps the writer to show the idea of
social castration in the story, a term which signifies women ’s lack of power.
1. The Symbolic Characters
Kathryn is Jack’s wife that finally finds out that she is betrayed. She finds out that everything she knows in her marriage is a lie. The most
painful betrayal is her finding Jack’s another wife in another country named Muire. Jack and Muire meet in the air as work partners.
“We met in the air” Shreve, 1998:115.
“I flew with him five and a half years ago. I was a flight attendant with Vision
” Shreve, 1998: 114. Muire is an ex-flight attendant in the Vision company where Jack works as a pilot.
Muire Boland, she read, had left the airline in January of 1993. Trained by Vision in London, she had been a flight attendant
with the airline for three years Shreve, 2004:100
Muire knows everything about Jack compared to Kathryn. She knows about Jack’s life that Kathryn never knows. That the dark-haired
woman had known everything. Whereas Kathryn had not Shreve, 1998: 112. Eventhough she knows everything about Jack, she does not have the
life that Kathryn has as Kathryn is the real wife in his life while she is a wife that is protected and is kept from public.
Had she been the pil ot’s wife or Muire Boland? Muire Boland,
who had been married in the Catholic Church, who knew of Jack’s mother and his childhood. Muire, who knew of Kathryn,
whereas Kathryn had not known of her. Or had Kathryn been the real wife? The first wife, the one he
had protected from the truth, the wife he wouldn’t leave? Shreve, 1998: 188
Kathryn is the first wife that Jack does not marry in a Catholic Church while Muire is the second wife that Jack marries in a church. This
situation, marry in a church or not, leaves Kathryn questions of its meaning related to devoutness.
“Kathryn said incredulously. It was one thing to be married in a Catholic church because a lover wanted it, quite another to be
devout oneself” Shreve, 1998: 153. Through her thought about it is one thing to be married in Catholic church, Kathryn questions her marriage that
is not in a church. It shows how to be married in a church is something important for her as it involves devoutness. She also questions herself about
who is the real wife for Jack empasizing that it is an important situation to be married in a church.
Had she herself been the pilot’s wife or had Muire Boland? Muire Boland, who had been married in the Catholic Church
Shreve, 1998: 141
Apart from marrying in church or not, both women are living under Jack’s
control. Kathryn is the first wife who is protected from the truth but having the real status as Jack’s wife while Muire is the second wife whose status as
Jack’s wife is kept and protected from society but having Jack’s full attention and better intimacy.
“I knew about you from the very beginning,” Muire said. “Jack and I did not have secrets.” The greater intimacy, then, Kathryn
thought. An intentional knife wound Shreve, 1998: 114
Eventhough Muire is a minor character in the story, her existence contributes important meaning to the whole story. At the beginning, Muire
Boland is a misterious character that Kathryn tries to find. And then, on a list dated 1992, she saw the name she hadn’t
even realized she’d been looking for, the unusual name that rose right up from the paper and traveled
through her bones with a charge. Muire Boland.
Flight attendant. Kathryn spoke the name aloud.
Muire Boland.
She was pretty sure it was a woman’s name Shrve, 2004: 98 Kathryn t
ries to find Muire Boland after she finds Muire’s name in Jack’s pocket for few times. She keeps asking herself about Muire Boland before
she finally decides to go to Ireland to find who Muire Boland and what her relation to Jack is.
Who was the woman called Muire? And what was Jack’s
connection to her? Might he have spent his last night with this woman? Had Jack been having an affair? Shrve, 2004: 97
Muire only appears twice in the story and she is depicted not to speak much. Muire does not speak to
o much except to answer Kathryn’s questions in short answer and sometimes leaves her in silence. “Had she
known from the moment she’d heard that transatlantic silence?” Shreve, 2008: 113. She does not even answer Kathryn if she is Muire Boland that
Kathryn tries to find or not and leave Kathryn to follow her to get in her house without invitation.
The invitation broke the long note of silence that had passed between the two women. Although it was not an invitation at all,
not in the way such offers are normally made, with a smile or a
step backward into a hallway to allow entry. It was, rather, a statement, simple and without inflection, as though the woman
had said instead: Neither of us has a choice now Shreve, 1998: 111
Muire Boland stood with her back to the fireplace, waiting for
her, although there had been no invitation to sit down, wouldn’t be Shreve, 1998: 115
In the story, Kathryn is the one who is betrayed and Muire the one who is involved in Jack’s betrayal. Muire may do wrong as she knows at the
very beginning that Jack has already had a family. “How could you?” Kathryn cried, spinning, and she might have
been speaking to Jack as well........ “I loved him,” Muire said.
“We were in love.”........................................................................ “There are things I can’t talk about,” Muire said Shreve, 1998:
114
“There are things . . . ,” Muire began. She stopped. “I wish . . .” Kathryn waited. Muire turned her palms upward, seemingly in
resignation. “There are things I can’t . . .” She sighed deeply, put her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “I’m not sorry for having
had him,” Muire said finally. “I’m just sorry for having hurt you.” Shreve, 1998: 121
From the previous dialogue, it can be seen that Muire has known that she has done wrong as she apologizes Kathryn for having hurt her to have Jack.
Over the mantle, behind the woman’s head, was a massive gold
mirror, which reflected Kathryn’s image in the doorway, so that, in essence, Kathryn and Muire Boland stood in the same frame
Shreve, 1998: 111
The word ‘frame’ in the previous quotation is an object and can be consider as a symbol. It has more meaning to show that Kathryn and Muire has the
same status or position, which is Jack’s wife. The two women stood on the parquet floor Shreve, 1998: 121.
The word ‘floor’ also can be considered to symbolize the same meaning, which is the same status and position as
Jack’s wife. Kathryn, eventhough she never wishes this truth, considers that she and Muire are linked through Jack as they both are Jack’s wives.
But then, almost simultaneously, she realized that of course the two women were linked, however much Kathryn might wish it
not true. By children, certainly, halfsisters and half-brothers, but also by Jack. Through Jack Shreve, 1998: 132
There is no real wife as both wives are living under Jack’s authority. Apart
from who i s betrayed or who is involved in Jack’s betrayal and from being
married in a church, both women are living under Jack’s authority. Kathryn,
as the first wife, does not know her fam ily’s economy as it is under Jack’s
control. She does not know that Jack has separated account and take some money from her and Mattie for his another wife.
“He paid for this? Kathryn asked suddenly, thinking: He took money from me. From Mattie
” Shreve, 1998: 150. Muire, eventhough she is not the one who is betrayed, also live
under Jack’s power. “He gave you money?” Kathryn persisted.
Muire looked away, as if sharing with Kathryn, for a moment, the particular treachery of taking money from one family to give
to the other.
“Occasionally,” she said. “I have some money of my own.” Shreve, 1998: 115
Both women can not get the full right as a wife to know the economical matter in the family. Muire, the second wife, can not get what Kathryn has.
Since the very beginning, she accepts her position as the second wife who is kept and hidden from society because she loves him. She also can not have a
service for Jack as her position is a wife who is hidden. “I envy you having had a service,” Muire said, looking up. “A
priest. I would have liked to be there.”
My God, Kathryn thought. “I saw your photograph,” Muire said. “In the papers. The FBI is
assembling its case?” “So I’m told.”
“Do they talk to you?” “No. Did they call you?”
“No,” Muire said. “You know Jack would never do this.” “Of course I know that,” Kathryn said.
After all, Kathryn had been the first wife, the primary wife, had she not? But she wondered then: In a man’s mind, who was the
more important wife — the woman he sought to protect by not
revealing the other? Or the one to whom he told all his secrets? Shreve, 1998: 116
Muire feels that she is worse than what Kathryn has thought about her. She
is the one which is protected by not revealing to other. Kathryn might have thought that Muire is better than her because Muire has better intimacy to
Jack that there is no secrets between her and Jack. In the other side, Muire might have thought that she is worse than Kathryn as she is kept and hidden
from the fact that she is Jack’s wife. “It was worse for me,” Muire said, and Kathryn turned, drawn
by the slightly plaintive note, a rent in the cool facade. “I knew
about you,” Muire Boland said. “You never had to know about me.” Shreve, 1998: 121
Kathryn and Muire are the symbolic characters in the story. Apart from who is betrayed or who is involved in Jack’s betrayal and from being
married in a church or not, both are Jack’s wives and they symbolize
women who do not have power and live under Jack authority, power and control. The title of the novel is
The Pilot’s Wife where the second status ‘wife’ can refer to Kathryn and Muire as both women are Jack’s wives.
2. The Symbolic Act
