Revised Reader/Response Essay correction

Running head: READER RESPONSE ESSAY 1

The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser

Kadia Williams

Jeaneen Kish

April 10, 2020

Running head: READER RESPONSE ESSAY 2

The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser

CJ Hauser, in her essay "The Crane Wife," Hauser is talking about two different stories,

but they work coherently together. At the beginning of her text, she says how she had called off

her engagement ten days before her wedding with her then-fiancé, and she immediately wants to

go to the gulf coast of Texas on a scientific expedition. She then gives an account of the

whooping crane expedition and starts by introducing the people she was traveling with in their

sizeable white van, they were Jeff, Jan, who was a retired geophysicist, warren who was a

bachelor and Lindsay. Their main reason for their expedition was to save the cranes by giving

them food, water, and shelter. As her story continues, she keeps switching from her wedding,

which she called off to the expedition. During her journey, she came upon a book that she found

at a gift shop, called "The Crane Wife,” a Japanese story that is almost entirely related to her

relationship.

Hauser fiancé is seen to be passive in their relationship, and he cannot see the things

which Hauser needs to feel complete in the relationship and what makes her happy as a woman.

Hauser explains one particular time she had put on her favorite red dress for a wedding and her

desire to feel sexy, she exploded to show her fiancé. But he dismisses her by staring at his phone,

All she wanted at that moment was for him to tell her nice she looked. Hauser did not get any

compliment until she forced one on him (The Paris Review). His only explanation was that he

had seen her previously in that dress, and there was no need of him repeating. For any woman to

experience, this is quite shattering not to get the attention a woman deserves, and he should have

at least done more.

Running head: READER RESPONSE ESSAY 3

Hauser, upon reading the Japanese folk tale "The Crane Wife," which a man is tricked

into believing she is a woman by the crane. It plucks its feathers one by one every night and

could not see it was ruining her because even at night, she does not sleep. Just like the crane,

when Hauser does not get the things she needs, she plucks them so that she may be seen she does

not require a lot. She writes, "I did not want to feel like the kind of nagging woman who might

exist in a sitcom," This is not a good thing to do because eventually, she would deprive herself

of all the needs which make her happy as a person.

Many online results show that women tend to be afraid of being needy or too weak in

their relationship either in a husband and wife status or a boyfriend and girlfriend status (Google

Research). Experts say that men in their nature will always want to feel needed by their women

only to the extent of them feeling nice and should not reach the degree, which makes the man

feel insecure.

Many therapists could suggest that women should sometimes learn to have ways to have

their needs met without the man realizing that something has been asked from him. This would

give any women the edge of getting many things she wants without feeling deprived of their

wants and needs in any relationship.

The situation is explained that women should master the essential skills to survive in a

heterosexual relationship, not forgetting to get married to their best friend. Women tend to offer

their men what they need and to satisfy them, and in turn, the men in that marriage are expected

to provide the support she needs, not forgetting security.

Hauser was right in doing two things, abandoning her fiancé and going to the whooping

crane expedition. Her fiancé did not appreciate her. His decision to marry her is a surprise

Running head: READER RESPONSE ESSAY 4

because she had been manipulated into knowing she should be comfortable with not needing

much to please her husband (The Paris Review, 2019). At this point, he does not deserve her. If

he truly loves her, he should have shown her unconditional support to her and he should have

been keen on her needs.

The second part, even though she had doubts about going on the trip after she called off

her wedding, it was the best thing that could have happened to her. The trip gave her a chance to

reflect on herself after the significant decision she made and also to be able not to deprive herself

of the need to do something she wants.

The essay is intriguing the way Hauser used different stories and merging them to the

same context without deviating from the story and message she meant to pass with a piece of

literature. The story is highly recommendable to other readers as it gives different situations in

her relationship, Hauser also hints to the point of defining a toxic relationship where women are

seen depriving themselves of their needs only to save their relationship.

Running head: READER RESPONSE ESSAY 5

References

The Paris Review https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/16/the-crane-wife/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/romance-redux/201211/five-ways-overcome-feelings-

neediness