Review of He and I

“He always feels hot, I always feel cold” (Ginzburg).

“He and I” is a short story by Natalia Ginzburg. The story talks about how the man and woman are different in many ways. The story gives the illusion that the man is an intelligent, cultured, hobbyist that controls the woman. The woman is seen as an unintelligent, scared, follower that listens to whatever her husband says. The man laughs at the woman because of how dumb she is. The woman starts to then believe that she could not do better.

She gave up her dream of writing because she thinks she could not do it. This story is about two very different people in a relationship in which the man controls the woman. In general people can learn from this story that in a relationship, there should not be one partner that leads the other. It should be two equal individuals working together. For example, in the story the woman talks about how she follows her husband on his journeys. They should make journeys together instead.

From this story, teens can learn how an unsuccessful relationship is. They can see the obvious differences between the couple and how one controls the other. Throughout the entire story it talks about how they have so many differences and how the woman thinks she is not smart, cultured, or anything. She thinks she is boring. I recommend this short story to young people so that they could learn from this failing relationship.