How I Met My Husband

How I Met My Husband
Alice Munro

This story effectively uses a surprise ending. As interpreted from the title, the story is a reminiscence of how Edie met her husband long ago. Because the reader knows that the story will tell how Edie met her husband, the reader expects that the first man with whom Edie becomes intimate will be her husband. Edie and Chris had a short scene of intimate kissing. After that scene, Chris planned to leave and promised to write Edie. Chris appeared that he would be Edie's husband. One small instance of foreshadowing that suggested that Chris would not be Edie's husband occurred shortly after Chris left, and Edie lied to Alice. "I never thought of myself as being in any way like her, or coming to the same troubles, ever" (Munro). Chris fled from Alice, and Edie thought that she would be with Chris instead of Alice. However, Edie was similar to Alice because Chris left her just as he left Alice. Ironically, Edie met her husband while waiting for a letter from Chris. The end of the story reveals that Carmichael, the mailman, asked Edie on a date which led to their relationship and eventual marriage.