marriage—the conflict arises because Michael constantly watches other women. When Frances calls him out on it, his responses may simply be the result of his annoyance with his wife due to her accusations; he may be responding with sarcasm—or he may be choosing to open up to his wife—but not in a constructive way. Michael's childish need to satisfy his own pleasure in watching other women does not allow for his wife's unhappiness over it. Frances, however, needs too much reassurance to give the reader the sense that theirs is a happy marriage. He pulls away, she pulls him back, closer.

For the relationship between the two to be truly functional and happy, Michael should be mature enough to watch women on his own time, not when his wife is with him—it shows a lack of regard for her feelings and a deep-seated dedication to satisfying his own needs over those of the woman he is supposed to "love, honor and cherish." Michael takes no responsibility for what he does, blithely dismissing his actions—he won't take a stand as to whether it's right or wrong, which probably says it all:

"I look at women," he said. "Correct. I don't say it's wrong or right, I look at them. If I pass them on the street and I don't look at them, I'm fooling you, I'm fooling myself."

Part of the problem may rest with Frances, but only because her desperation might drive someone as shallow as Michael away—this sign of weakness would more likely make him resent her. While he seems sympathetic about the pain the topic (and concept) brings her, rather than showing her the attention and regard she yearns for, he insists on explaining, in painful details, how he likes to watch other women and that he might choose to leave her at some time—showing a lack of any real distress for her.

"You want them," Frances repeated without expression. "You said that."

"Right," Michael said, being cruel now and not caring, because she had made him expose himself. "You brought this subject up for discussion, we will discuss it fully."

Michael says he has never touched another woman in five years. Frances' problem is that he wants to. He is unhappy that she has pushed him into admitting the truth aloud (though his behavior needs no "translation"), and she is unhappy because he is not "exclusively" hers in her mind, and their relationship is not progressing in a positive direction. It would seem that it never will as the author describes Michael's behavior when Frances walks away to call the Stevensons: even Frances, in Michael's mind, is a sex-object.

She got up from the table and walked across the room toward the telephone. Michael watched her walk, thinking, What a pretty girl, what nice legs.

The central conflict in Irwin Shaw's "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" exists between Michael Loomis and his wife of five years, Frances.

A conflict is "the struggle between opposing forces." The two forces here are Michael and Frances. As the couple walks along one November day in New York City, Frances comments on the fact that Michael is watching the women that pass by. This is not something new. Obviously Frances has noted this habit for a very long time, but it is now being addressed by Frances as they walk.

The noticeable conflict is that Michael watches other nice-looking women. This makes Frances feel extremely self-conscious and sad, even though she is still a beautiful woman. However, Michael also is demonstrating his lack of regard for his wife and a sense that he is entitled to do what he chooses. In fact, he refuses to admit if he is right or wrong, and he tries to blame his truthful declarations on Frances:

"I look at women," he said. "Correct. I don't say it's wrong or right, I look at them. If I pass them on the street and I don't look at them, I'm fooling you, I'm fooling myself."

When Frances accuses Michael of wanting these women he says:

"Right," Michael said, being cruel now and not caring, because she had made him expose himself. "You brought this subject up for discussion, we will discuss it fully."

Michael cares more about his own pleasures than the feelings of his wife. This realization (which may not be completely unsuspected by Frances) hurts her deeply. And as the story goes on, we understand that Frances loves Michael, though it may be in a much too grasping and desperate way that makes her husband unhappy: in fact, he may be pulling away because she exhibits a sense of desperation that Michal cannot live comfortably with.

Point of view, of course, is the standpoint from which the story is told: "who tells the story and how it is told." It is important to note what a narrator does.

The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story.

First-person point of view is when a story is told using the pronoun "I" as the reader hears the thoughts of the narrator/speaker. In this case, the person sharing his or her thoughts is part of the story's action. What this character sees and/or knows is limited to what the narrator knows and observes.

With second-person point of view, the narrator speaks directly to the reader, as if the reader was a part of the story taking place at that moment.

Another popular point of view used by many authors is third-person. This is when a tale is told from the perspective of an unidentified narrator, or a character in the story, and the pronouns used are "he, she, it, they," etc. There are two kinds of third-person point of views: objective and omniscient. The objective point of view almost speaks for itself: the narrator is an observer, does not take part in the story, and reports what is apparent to an "observer." This point of view does not guide the thoughts of the reader at all.

Omniscient point of view refers to the narrator who is "all-knowing." The thoughts and feelings, as well as the actions, of multiple characters may be expressed by the narrator. It is not uncommon that this narrator may "shadow" a character for several pages or even a chapter, and then switch to do the same with another character. The third-person omniscient narrator may "evaluate" a character "in some meaningful way."

In Irwin Shaw's "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses," the point of view is third-person objective. The narrator simply reports what is noticeable to anyone observing the couple. A device that the author uses to share the character's ideas (other than having the character speak about them in the story) is to have a character speak as if he or she were speaking to him- or herself:

"I try not to notice it," Frances said, as though she were talking to herself. "I try to make believe it doesn't mean anything.

Another tell-tale characteristic of third-person objective is that the narrator never provides commentary on the character's actions. We are left to analyze them as each character speaks (or acts), drawing our own conclusions.