Part 4, Chapter 40 Summary

The narrator arrives home and finds his friend and his wife waiting to express their condolences. While the two men talk, the wife begins to bug the narrator about his own girl. The narrator becomes so annoyed by her that he tells her his girl is in the house and welcomes her to check for herself. The wife refuses and insists that they leave.

Part 4, Chapter 40 Analysis

Some personal growth can be seen here if the reader can see growth in the narrator's desire to protect his girl's reputation from the dirty words of a woman he dislikes. The narrator defends his girl, suggesting some emotion there that goes deeper than the nonchalance the narrator claimed for the girl at the beginning of the story. The narrator has clearly grown toward this girl and this perhaps will shed a positive light...