Anxiety

Dahl explores the theme of anxiety in order to provide the reader with insight concerning what might cause anxiety in daily life, and he explores how anxiety manifests itself and affects one’s life in different ways. The predominant means of this exploration in the story is through Mrs. Foster’s character development, her marriage, and some symbolism.

Dahl establishes a character trait in Mrs. Foster early in the story, and this trait symbolizes and indicates the frequency with which Mrs. Foster has anxious episodes. The narrator informs the reader that Mrs. Foster’s anxiety is triggered by an “annoying” (37) muscle twitch near her left eye. Dahl presents this information near the beginning of the story in order to establish a physical representation of Mrs. Foster’s anxiety. This allows Dahl to explore Mr. Foster’s character later in the story. For example, Mr. Foster stares...