The Speaker

The speaker is a woman who bitterly submits to her husband's will for the sake of keeping her family together. A sense of agency in this choice is evident in the lines "I tie / My heart to that headboard" (1-2). Glück evokes the speaker's distinct voice through the use of contractions, rhetorical questions, double entendres, and emotive language. Ultimately, the speaker bears the burden of her marriage while feeling scornful towards her husband.

The Husband

All details about the husband are filtered through the speaker's disdain for him. When her "quilted cries / Harden against his hand," this could be either the heat of an intimate moment or a violent act on the husband's part (3-4). Glück keeps the context here ambiguous. When the husband cuts and serves the dinner roast, the speaker sees this as a metaphor for how he treats her. The husband does...