John Cheever's short story "The Country Husband" ends with the protagonist Francis Weed, happily making a bookshelf upon the advice of his therapist. Over the course of the tale, he has experienced a series of traumas, beginning with the possibility of his flight crashing, his sad babysitter Anne throwing herself at him after sobbing about her alcoholic father, and confronting a hidden former German conspirator working as a servant in at a suburban home. The end feels curiously deflating, although it feels 'realistic' in the sense that the reader can envision such an event taking place in real life. Francis does not run off with the babysitter, or die in a plane crash. Rather, it shows the protagonist experiencing a mid-life crisis that could be potentially and powerfully life-altering, but ultimately has no exterior effects upon his existence.
             Francis' suburban life is too comfortable for him to leave it, and seek real happiness. Instead, he vents his frustrations in petty ways, either through showing small cruelties towards others through the small power he does have in his work (like subverting the job search of Anne's future husband), or fantasizing about other women. The dominant theme of the work is the secrets that lurk behind the smiling facade of gated communities but never quite bubble to the surface. At the end of the story, the fascade is still there, not stripped away at all, except in the eyes of the all-knowing reader, because the reader has been privilege to the confidence of the author. However, most readers want at least some satisfaction and some sense that something has happened, even within Francis' character. Francis seems not to have fundamentally changed his life or the way he reates to others, despite his experience of a mid-life crisis.
             Because the end of the story never resolves what will happen between Francis and his wife Julia, one potential ending might be t...