The couple in Irwin Shaw's short story, "The Girls in the Summer Dresses", the wife Frances is portrayed as the victim because she does not accept her husband's way of thinking. Michael is the abuser in the story, he is very one sided and thinks he is correct with whatever he does in his relationship. This story is taking place in New York City on 5th Ave. mainly in a bar. What was supposed to be a nice relaxing Sunday morning, had turned out to be a very intense saddened day with a strong conversation that brings emotion and anger to the story. .
Michael, the unfavorable character is not a loyal, trustworthy husband. Instead he is a disgrace to his wife because he thinks its fine to look at other woman while he is with or even around his wife Frances. He has the mind of a teenage boy who thinks of women as sex symbols who are on this earth to please men. Michael explains to his wife Frances that, " I casually inspect the universe." That statement sticks out because the only person he should be looking at is Frances, every other woman should be irrelevant to him, but he does not understand that. Frances notices particularly the way he looks at woman as they pass by, and she notifies him how much that irks her. But Michael being the man he is disregards her feelings and pours every secret he has about woman in detail. He talks about the variety of woman that grabs his attention and he speaks about them as if he wants them. Michael is a husband that cannot be trusted by Frances, and she is supposed to be his queen and they are supposed to have the most trust in each other. .
Michael tries to use his style of language to persuade his wife to go along with what he tells her. He uses repetition and he continually tells her to, "Sh-h-h"; trying to shut his wife up is extremely disrespectful and the way he does it is not in a very nice manner. Every time he tries to tell her to stop talking he is attempting to change the subject so he doesn't have to hear her complain anymore.