Identity

Over the course of “How to Be an Other Woman,” Charlene’s affair with her unnamed lover challenges her sense of self. At the start of the short story, Charlene relies upon the second person point of view in order to avoid identifying with the woman her affair is causing her to become. The longer that she is with the lover, however, the more unfamiliar she becomes to herself: “You walk differently,” she says shortly after learning that her lover is married (5). “In store windows you don’t recognize yourself; you are another woman” (5). For a time, Charlene attempts to adopt the identity of the mistress. However, as time goes by and the reality of the lover’s wife becomes increasingly undeniable, Charlene is forced to question who she is becoming and who she wants to be.

The author formally traces and enacts these mutations in...