What is the author's tone in the novel, The Wife?

Because Joan is the novel’s narrator, the prose generally reflects Joan’s personal anger, bitterness, and criticisms towards Joe and the patriarchal structures he represents. The novel establishes this tone immediately, as the first page of the book begins thusly: “The moment I decided to leave him, the moment I thought, enough, we were thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean, hurtling forward but giving the illusion of stillness and tranquility. Just like our marriage, I could have said” (9). This tone persists throughout the novel, as Joan, looking back on her life, has reached a point of clarity about the many injustices she has suffered due to misogyny and patriarchy.

By the end of the novel, after Joe’s death, the language reflects a pivotal shift in the tone of Joan’s outlook. Joan feels empowered by her newfound freedom and independence, but she also feels a sense of grief for Joe, despite the many dysfunctions of their marriage. Joan decides, for the moment, not to tell anyone the truth about the authorship of Joe’s books. Instead, she says to Nathaniel Bone, “Joe was a wonderful writer. And I will always miss him” (219). The sincerity of the latter statement is ambiguous because both Joan and the reader know that the first statement is untrue. This ambiguity reflects the complicated nature of Joan’s past and present, both of which have been influenced by patriarchal societal structures.