New Hampshire · Chapter
Paul's Wife explained
The chapter explores the mystery of Paul's wife, a subject that causes Paul to vanish from any lumber camp when mentioned.
What happens
The chapter explores the mystery of Paul's wife, a subject that causes Paul to vanish from any lumber camp when mentioned. Various rumors circulate about why he reacts this way, but Murphy's story reveals that Paul actually carved his wife from a hollow white-pine log. She emerged from water as a beautiful girl, and the two were seen keeping house in the wilderness. Paul's possessiveness leads him to keep her hidden from the world.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Transience
Paul's wife is born from a hollow pine log and emerges from water, symbolizing the transient and mysterious beauty of nature.
Isolation and Community
Paul's desire to keep his wife hidden contrasts with the communal curiosity of the lumber camp, highlighting tensions between privacy and social bonds.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“To drive Paul out of any lumber camp All that was needed was to say to him, 'How is the wife, Paul?'—and he’d disappear.”
Mentioning Paul's wife was a sure way to make him leave a logging camp immediately.
This opening establishes the central mystery of Paul's reaction to questions about his wife.
“Paul sawed his wife Out of a white-pine log. Murphy was there, And, as you might say, saw the lady born.”
Paul created his wife by cutting her out of a white-pine log, with Murphy as a witness to her birth.
This reveals the fantastical origin of Paul's wife, central to the chapter's mythic quality.
“She went out like a firefly, and that was all.”
The girl's light vanished instantly when the loggers shouted, like a firefly being extinguished.
This describes the mysterious disappearance of Paul's wife after being disturbed by the other loggers.