The American wife is a very active, free-spirited woman. Her flapper haircut is perhaps an indication that, once upon a time, she was a party girl who liked to go out and have fun. If so, she's a party girl no longer. That's mainly because she's married to a man whose idea of fun consists of reading books all day. Not that there's anything wrong with reading books, of course, but George's wife is a classic extrovert, and so being cooped up indoors all day with someone reading a book is not exactly her idea of excitement.

The American wife makes it abundantly clear that she wants so much more out of life than she's currently getting. Yes, she might be considered a tad materialistic, but she also has quite simple ambitions in life, such as buying a house of her own or having a cat curl up on her lap. But she's unable to achieve these ambitions due to the almost total inertia of her bookish husband.

The American wife wants to be loved and appreciated by George, but there's precious little evidence of that in their marriage. George barely acknowledges her existence and gives the impression that she's little more than a source of irritation.

Restless and dissatisfied with life, the American wife craves a sense of stability, the kind of which she cannot get in her current marriage. The old-world charm of the Italian hotel in which she and her husband are staying provides her with a tantalizing glimpse of the kind of life she craves. More than anything else, she just wants to settle down, rather than the itinerant lifestyle she seems to be leading at present.