I found The Husband Stitch to be a very entertaining read. While it seems as if they are passionate about each other, throughout the story there is a feeling like there is something off about the husband. As the years go on we as the reader notice how he becomes increasingly impatient about knowing why she keeps the ribbon around her neck. Even as the reader, although The Girl with The Green Ribbon is a story I knew as a child my curiosity of why she kept it on peaked increasingly throughout the novel. 

While the husband may not be overtly abusive in the traditional sense it is seen how he repeatedly ignores her boundaries, for example when it came to stitching her up after she gave birth or his constant attempts throughout the story to remove her ribbon. I also noticed the way their child changed throughout the story. As a small child he was very innocent and didn’t really mind her ribbon, seeing it as a part of her. As he grew up though, I presume through the influence of his father he began to insist on knowing why she had the ribbon around her neck.

 I think the child in the story is essential because while the story is through the eyes of the woman we have insight of what it may have been like for the husband to grow up, or a stereotypical man in society. The way she describes her son’s personality changing as he got older, how he became more opinionated in the stories she told him as well as him eventually finding a girl that he loved and wanted to marry made her reminisce about her own husband when they were younger. 

Although it isn’t explicitly said the year this story was set in, I had the feeling it was during an older time period due to her unwavering obedience to her husband, as well as the young age they got married. While I thought she would eventually stand up to her husband she only gets assertive when he touches her ribbon. This makes sense towards the end because if not for her resistance she would have died, essentially because the ribbon was the only thing keeping her head on her shoulders. I find knowing this fact now to be kind of absurd because it is as if she will only defend herself when it comes to something which is essentially keeping her alive. 

In terms of the end scene, I was excited because she finally unveiled why she kept the ribbon around her neck. Although it isn’t necessarily realistic for a ribbon to be the only thing keeping your head on I think the symbolism behind the green ribbon it is primarily about women having control over their bodily autonomy, and consent, this being something that can be ignored, even by people that love us. I really loved the way this story was written and I didn’t mind that there wasn’t much detail like names of the characters. I also found it very ironic that while reading a short scary story the narrator herself was telling various short scary stories.