Analysis of the Astronomer's Wife by Kay BoyleIn Kay Boyle's "The Astronomer's Wife", something as simple as a conversation with a plumber about a stopped elbow is enough to set off a wake-up call in Mrs. Katherine Ames. When Mrs. Ames realized that the plumber was talking about something she understood (the stopped elbow), she realized that her marital problems were not the result of a gender divide; rather, she realized that some men, like the plumber, are just as practical as others. as she is, and that some other men, like her husband, look down on people like her because they are intellectually inclined. Before this discovery, Katherine did not realize that there were different types of men and, therefore, she did not realize that she and her husband were mismatched. Furthermore, when she wakes up, Mrs. Ames also discovers that, like the plumber, she occupies as valuable a place in society as the astronomer, because she does the "dirty" work to enable people like her husband to have time to reflect and discover. The scene in question takes place after Mrs. Ames has already noticed that the plumber has a few physical features that match hers (like blonde hair), and she talks to him as he goes down into the dirt. The scene begins immediately after the plumber says, "I think something's clogged the elbow," because that phrase was one of the few things a man ever said that Mrs. Ames understood. After the plumber goes down into the ground before the scene, Mrs. Ames is the only one left. She spends the entire duration of this scene sitting on the grass, silently thinking and revealing her thoughts to the audience. In the course of her reflection, Mrs. Ames makes the important discovery that there is a whole race of practical people like herself, both men and women. She knew that "when her husband spoke of height, having no idea of ​​it, she could neither imagine nor hear it", but curiously, when another man, who happened to be a plucker, spoke of his work , “a daily madness, as if on her elbows, she saw clearly and well”. Mrs. Ames finally realized during these reflections that these were two men with two different lifestyles, and perhaps his lifestyle suited that of the plumber more than that of the astronomer, in to the extent that she too could only identify with everyday concerns. In his mind, the division between people was no longer limited to men and women; it was now work and thought, those who “were always ascending, [and] others who descended, like the