After finishing the story, think about the title. Why do you think Cheever chose it? Is it meant to lend insight into one of the characters or is it intended to support one of the story's themes? Write an essay in which you offer an explanation for the title. Be sure your points are drawn from the text and quote the story where appropriate.

Read another of Cheever's best-loved short stories, "The Swimmer," and compare it to "The Country Husband." If you had to draw conclusions about Cheever's entire body of work (style, construction, characterization, themes, etc.) based only on these two stories, what conclusions would you draw? Make some notes about this. Then read an overview of Cheever's career (Twayne's Authors Series is a good one) to see if your conclusions are in line with published criticism on the work. What...