"How I Met My Husband" by Alice Munro

After reading Alice Munro’s short story, “How I Met My Husband,’ I realized the effectiveness of the surprise ending in the story. Throughout the majority of the work, the reader is under the impression that Chris Watters, a pilot, is the husband of main character Edie. However, the reader later discovers that the mailman Edie meets while waiting for a letter from Chris becomes her husband. This ending was especially effective because it allowed for a revelation. While reading the story, I was confused why Edie was so enamored by Chris, especially because their personalities were not compatible and he was rather forward. Edie, on the other hand, was very shy and much younger than Chris. While waiting for Chris’ promised letter and an explanation for Edie’s care for him, the presence of the mailman made me realize the twist within the story. All of the dramatic events surrounding Chris just led up to Edie meeting the mailman, who in the end turned out to be her husband. The surprise ending was also rather inevitable. Seeing as Chris escaped his fiancée Alice by abandoning his plane ride business, it made sense that he would never really communicate with Edie, a girl he knew for a few weeks, again. However, Edie’s naïveté of Chris’ true intentions allowed her to meet her husband, as the story states, “It never crossed my mind for a long time a letter might not come,” (Munro, 145). When she finally realizes this fact, she is able to begin a relationship with the mailman.