COMMENTARY The Womanizer By Richard Ford

The extract The Womanizer written by Richard Ford consists of three

characters which include a single mother Josephine, her son Leo and a
gentleman who has come to meet Josephine known as Austin. The extract
revolves around the interaction between the three characters, where most
of the priority is given to the lovers and Josephines son is the one who is
observer. The central theme also revolves around the relationship
between the three characters and how they react towards each other
given any situation. Ford has used detail as a tool to make readers feel
the incidents in person, he has done this by describing the events with
imagery, choice of words and by setting a general mood and tone. Further
more by using detail such as imagery and use of words, Ford has been
able to describe the characters in an effective manner which make it
easier for readers to decipher their lifestyle.

From the beginning of the play the readers are made aware that Josephine
is a single lady having a son named Leo, she is single when her son
questions her He asks if you are my new husband. on line 23 . We could also
make out that she is having an affair with a man named Austin. This is
evident when from the first lines Austin walked up stride, here the
reader can notice the impatience which Austin has to see Josephine as he
rushes to her house. Josephine also seems to be anticipating Austins
arrival as she opens the door immediately while he knocks.
Furthermore as soon as they see each other they have a kiss, here Ford
puts emphasis by describing a simple kiss as a more intimate one by
providing detail. The choice of words such as hard creates an effect of a
more intimate kiss. This is also the first time that Leo comes across his
mother being physically intimate with another man, this leaves him
shocked. This tells the reader that the small boy is unaware of her
mothers relationship with other men. It is the casualty between the two
adults that leave him shocked.

A great usage of detail is shown in paragraphs 4 and 5, where the major

incident revolves around how Austin perceives Josephines dressing.
Josephines dressing is described with words such as loose fitting,
helter skelter and loud colours, these type of words lead the readers
to characterize Josephine as a woman who lacked dressing sense, also tell
the readers about Josephines personality which is rather causal and easy
going. This is due to loose fitting clothes are usually comfortable and give
a leeway to body, similarly one can relate it to Josephines easy going
personality. Loud colours suggest confidence and care free attitude as she
might feel there is no one to judge her, these traits are reflected during
Josephines and Austins first kiss, where Josephine is casually kissing
another man in front of her son without any hesitation. During the
description of the dress we also get to know about Austins personality,
which could be described as a person who judges on a persons
physicality i.e. in this case Josephines dressing sense. This judging
personality can be described when he thinks they fit pants, little
sloppy and little fat, this leads to Austin not loving Josephine because
of her personality but more because she must be a pretty lady. I feel
great by giving her false feelings it seems as Austin does not want to hurt
Josephines feeling and one can also perceive her as a kind man who cares
for her.

While reading the extract one can now see the tension building up when
we see little Leo staring at Austin while he smiled down. This indicident
was not very pleasant for Austin as he must have felt unwelcomed to this
house by looking at Leos reaction, i.e. holding up the drumstick like a
cigar store indian . From his chest. In this case also Ford has used
effective words that portay imagery of Leos appearance. The BIG TIME
AMERICAN LUXURY is written in capital which seems to be storming
hatred towards Austin.

When Leo asks Josephine is Austin was his new huband in French, it tells
the reader that Leo does not want Austin to understand what he said and
this could mean that Leo thought Austin as a barrier between him and her
mother. This also makes Austin feel more awkward and unwelcomed.
Further we discover that Austin wants to give Josephine a more
significant kiss which he could not due to Leo continuously staring at
him and leading him to feel awkward. This leads to a mental conflict
between Leo and Austin as it has no words involved, just perception of
each others behavior and its result. In this incident we also come to know
that Austins expectations were turned down as he thought he would feel
free about everything.

Furthermore, to resolve this awkwardness Austin tries to play a game with

leo. He had versed some of the things in French probably so that he could
please the child and Josephines heart. This is shown when he says Jai
toi, choissez leo. This could make the reader feel that Austin really
does love Josephine and he is trying his level best to please her and leo.
Adding on we could also make out that Austin is probably of a british
decent and hence not French as he had to learn French. The game
involved two closed fists and one wooden egg held in one of them. Ford
creates an image within the readers mind when he describes the egg as a
little green egg with delicate gold patterns and red snowflakes.

More over the tension between Austin and Leo continues to build up by
the same awkwardness between them. This is observed when Leo presses
his lips against each other with practiced inquisitiveness, this could
mean that Leo intentionally did not want to be interested in any
interaction or game with Austin and hence the word practiced. This
could be because of the little boys feeling of loss i.e. he had lost his father
and hence by her mother falling in love with some other man he could
lose her too.
A sudden contrast is observed when Austin sees warts on Leos hand and
describes them as cold wretchedness which make him reminisce about
his own childhood. This could be because Austin himself must have gone
through physical pain or abuse in his childhood and hence felt considerate
towards Leo. In the mean time Austin snapped back to his senses as Leo
smashed his fingers with drumsticks and ran away. This could be because
of the turmoil created within Leo due to him not speaking since beginning
but seeing Austin getting close to his mother and hence created hatred
towards him. This also must have made Austin finalize his thoughts about
Leos feelings towards him i.e. hatred and discomfort and that he would
never accept him as a father.

To conclude, ford has mainly used detail using imagery and choice of
words which helped him give detailed description of the characters and
the events. The detailed description help reader understand the extract in
an effective way and make them feel the events and feel as if they are
happening in real life.