Fable Journal 1

The context is set in Balfagor during the first paragraph, where the narrator tells that story of all the men in hell and why they were so miserable, which apparently is because of their wives. I read over our documents and really didn’t understand what you were asking in your question about the three context elements, so I will have to post on this after I get a little clarity. The turning point of the story is on page 423, when the narrator states that, “All of this was, for Roderigo, the cause of much misery.” I chose this as the turning point because everything goes downhill after this sentence, and everything hinges on this sentence as well. In order to appease his new wife, Roderigo buys her everything she ever wanted as well as employing her family. Of course this doesn’t appease her, but rather adds fuel to her fiery temper. I would guess that the moral is that you shouldn’t get a wife, which is explicitly spelled out throughout the story. This doesn’t seem like a real moral though, so I guess I missed something. The reversal in the story occurs when Rodrigo’s brothers in law lose all of his wealth, and he is forced to beg for the help of another. The other reversal in the story is when the old man who helped protect Rodrigo tricks him into going back to hell. This would be the reversal for the old man as the main character in the second half, but it can also be interpreted as the resolution for Rodrigo. He determines that wives are actually the cause of much misery. I found the sexism in this story to be amazingly blatant, and almost amusing.