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Grace Paley: “Wants”

Through the course of three decades, American writer Grace Paley grabbed reader attention by writing about the lives of Jewish, Hispanic, and black families of New York.

The women of Paley’s stories often live in the same diaspora—the lone woman abandoned by a man. “Wants” is no different, trailing a divorcee narrator who has given twenty-seven years of time and attention to her family

When the narrator unintentionally meets her ex-husband, the first thing she says to him is “Hello, my life,” implying that her entire existence has been based on her role as this man’s wife. Her husband, however, doesn’t see his life’s purpose as being the spouse as he responds with, “What life? No life of mine.” Their different outlooks are immediately clear to us. The husband believes his place in their past marriage hasn’t defined him the way it’s defined her. He blames her for their marriage coming to an end and she accepts the blame. After mentioning every logical reason that came between their marriage—children, war family illness—she tells him “But you’re right…You took adequate financial care” so that their children could look “just like everyone else. They looked very nice.”

It’s only after her ex-husband mentions that she never “wanted anything” that she realizes her desires went beyond anything solid or materialistic that supposedly came with their marriage and family. Paley’s narrator sees change all around her—time passing by, a new building, a dead marriage, grown up children—but what she wants is a change in herself.

“I wanted to have been married forever to one person.” But that was then, and now after so many years, she wants “to be a different person.”

“Wants” is one of Paley’s most tamed pieces and it can be easily overlooked. It’s very short, barely reaching to two pages. The language isn’t bold and catching as Paley’s other stories but it isn’t without substance. How many of us have wanted to do more in our lives? Wanted other things but were unable to get there because of the fences life built along the way? The meaning behind this story is universal and still has a kind significance in today’s society that makes it worth reading.

Listen to the story for yourself:

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About the Reviewer
Farhana Uddin is a contributing writer for Feminist Review and the opinion editor for MYMEME.

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