(Blog Post #1, class 1073) My Ex-Husband Analysis by Abbey Vivas-Orozco

           The poem "My Ex-Husband" By Gabriel Spera is a common example of how a woman feels towards her ex-husband; both hate and love.  In the first couple of lines the reader can be drawn to assume that the wife may be speaking to a new friend or even a mate. The poem is clearly revealing how the spouse feels through her spiteful divorce, her inner conflict to feel hate and love for her ex-husband remains. Throughout the poem, a malicious and sarcastic tone is used in order to contribute to emphasize that this woman hates her ex-husband but yet seems to have moved onto a different man, even though her ex-husband is not present, he seems to be present throughout the poem. By this, it is revealed that her obsession for her ex-husband has not let her move on but has made a stronger imprint in her life.

            For example, the way the woman speaks about her ex-husband seems to still love him. It is clearly showed how she cannot even remove an old frame of him, meaning she still wants to keep him close to her life. Even though, she has friend or mate that is at her house might miss lead that she is trying to forget about her past relationship but if she really did she would not spend so much of that time talking about her ex. She describes him with so much hate in her malicious and sarcastic tone of voice towards the middle of the poem due to his affairs. "How snobbishly he carried on affairs...who'd lower herself to put up with shit like that?"

 But, surprisingly, she is portraying her ex-husband characteristics. She now taking control of the situation as well as the setting her friend or mate will have dinner and she will being the one driving to that fine restaurant. She does not want to go to any checkered tables, therefore, the dinner at Chez Pierre works out to her “standards,” making her be the shadow of her ex-husband by taking control of the situation.

As the poem comes to its end the “champagne flutes” from Italy which Claus got in the settlement for her are symbolic, for she has kept the champagne bottle for a special occasion. Would this be considered a special occasion? In a way it can be viewed as her trophy because as a women it represents once again the power over the taste and how she got something over that past relationship. She hates what he did to her but loves him for doing it because if it wouldn’t for that, she wouldn’t be that person who is “self-satisfied” which makes her happy. Even though  she makes it seem like she is over the incidence, nonetheless she is only over the it because she carries her ex-husband in her inner self.