50 Essays: A Portable Anthology - Samuel Cohen 2017
James Thurber, The subjunctive mood
James Thurber (1894—1961) was a cartoonist and writer. Best known for the cartoons and stories he wrote for the New Yorker over a career that spanned four decades, Thurber had thirty-five books published under his name. Thurber’s talent was wide ranging — he wrote journalism, humor, serious fiction, drama, and biography, and drew cartoons that have been a lasting influence on the art form. His story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is among his best-known works; the titular character has become iconic, and the story was made into a motion picture in 1947 and again in 2013.
While Thurber was multitalented, much of his best work is marked by humor. His sense of humor became a large part of the New Yorker’s identity, and it was in turn shaped by that magazine’s sophisticated, urbane style. As you read “The Subjunctive Mood,” which was published in 1929, think about its sense of humor and how you think the essay might be received if published today.
The importance of correct grammar in the home can not be over-estimated. Two young people should make sure that each is rhetorically sound before they get married, because grammatical precision, particularly in mood, is just as important as anything else. Rhetoric and sex, in fact, are so closely related that when one becomes confused they both become confused. Take the subjunctive. Fowler1, in his book on modern English usage, says the subjunctive is dying, but adds that there are still a few truly living uses, which he groups under “Alives, Revivals, Survivals, and Arrivals.” Let us examine the all too common domestic situation where the husband arrives just after another gentleman has departed — or just after he thinks another gentleman has departed (Suppositional Departures lead to just as much bitterness, and even more subjunctives, than Actual Departures).
The wife, in either case, is almost sure to go into the subjunctive — very likely before any accusation is made. Among the most common subjunctives which she will be inclined to use are those of indignation and hauteur, such as “Be that as it may,” “Far be it from me,” etc.
For the moment, she is safe enough in the subjunctive, because her husband has probably gone into it, too, using “Would God I were,” “If there be justice,” and so on. Wives select the subjunctive usually because it is the best mood in which to spar for time, husbands because it lends itself most easily to ranting and posturing. As long as they both stay in it they are safe. Misunderstandings are almost certain to arise, however, when the husband goes into the indicative, as he is pretty sure to do. He usually does this preparatory to dismissing his suspicions, a step toward which every husband is impelled by his natural egotism. First he will begin with a plain past-tense indicative if-clause — just to show that he knows who the man is — prior to dismissing him.
“If George Spangrell was here,” the husband will begin, lighting a cigarette, “I …”
5“Well, what would you do if he were?” demands the wife.
The confusion, which begins at this point, is pretty intricate. The husband has gone into the indicative, but his wife has stayed in the subjunctive and, furthermore, she thinks that he is still there, too. Thus she thinks he intended to say: “If George Spangrell was here [that is, now] I would tell him what I think of him, the low scoundrel.” There is no excuse for a wife prematurely imputing such a suspicion or such a rhetorical monstrosity to her husband. What he probably intended to say was merely something like this: “If George Spangrell was here, I wouldn’t like it, but of course I know he wasn’t, dear.” However, misunderstandings now begin to pile up. The husband is instantly made suspicious by her “What would you do if he were?” He considers her “were” tantamount to “is.” (This quick-tempered construction, of course, makes the “would” in his wife’s sentence ridiculous, for, had she meant “is” instead of “were,” she would have substituted “will” for “would.”) The situation is much too involved now, however, for the husband to make an effort to parse anything. He instantly abandons all grammatical analysis, and begins to look about, peering into the wardrobe, swishing under beds with a cane or mop-handle.
His wife now has the advantage of him, not only in mood, but in posture. A woman must naturally view with disdain and contempt any man who is down on all fours unless he has taken that position for the purpose of playing horse with some children — an extenuation which we need not discuss here. To meet her on even terms, the husband should walk, not crawl, from wardrobe to chaise-longue, using the mandatory subjunctive in a firm voice, as follows: “If anyone be in (or under) there, let him come out!” [“Come out” is better here than “emerge” because stronger, but a husband should not fall into the colloquial “Come on out of that!” He may, however, if he so wishes, address the gentleman, whether he be present or not, as “Spangrell” but never “Mr. Spangrell” (Hypocritical Dignification) and certainly never as “George” — the use of the given name being in extreme bad taste where no endearment is intended.]
The wife of course will resent all these goings-on, and the quarrel that results will probably last late into the night.
There are several ways to prevent a situation like this. In the first place, when a husband says “was” a wife should instantly respond with “wasn’t.” Most husbands will take a “wasn’t” at its face value, because it preserves their egotism and self-respect. On the other hand, “if … were” is always dangerous. Husbands have come to know that a wife’s “if … were” usually means that what she is presenting as purely hypothetical is, in reality, a matter of fact. Thus, if a wife begins, one evening after an excellent dinner, “Dear, what would you do if I were the sort of woman who had, etc.,” her husband knows full well that it is going to turn out that she is the sort of woman who has. Husbands are suspicious of all subjunctives. Wives should avoid them. Once a woman has “if … were’d” a Mr. Spangrell, her husband is, nine times out of ten, going to swish under the chaise-longue. Even if he finds no-one, the situation becomes extremely awkward, and there is of course always the plaguey hundredth chance that he may discover a strange cane or pair of gloves.
10The best of all ways out is for the husband to go instantly into the future indicative and say, with great dignity, “I shall go down to the drugstore.” Ordinarily his wife would reply, “Oh, no you won’t,” but with all the doubt and suspicion in the air, she will be inclined to humor him and let him have his way. She is certain to, if Spangrell is in the clothes hamper.
For Discussion and Writing
1. What is the subjunctive mood?
2. How would you classify the mode in which this essay is written? Is it argumentative? Narrative? Both? Explain your answer by referring to the features that distinguish these different modes.
3. connections How does Thurber use humor in this essay — that is, how does he write so as to be funny, and to what end? Compare Thurber’s use of humor to Nancy Mairs’s in “On Being a Cripple” (p. 226). How does she write to be funny? What is her purpose for doing so? How do the two essays compare on both counts?
4. Write a brief humorous essay. Then write a reflection on the process of writing to be funny. What was the experience like? Was it easy? Hard? In what ways? Was there anything surprising about it?
5. looking further While this essay is funny, the narrative it constructs is about marital infidelity, something that is often not felt to be amusing in real life. Do some research on this phenomenon in contemporary life. What kind of information can you collect? What information do you think is more important? What kind of information is less important? Do you think it is an appropriate subject for humor, based on the information you’ve gathered? Why, or why not?
1. Henry Fowler (1858—1933) wrote A Dictionary of English Usage, an iconic British style guide that was first published in 1926. [Ed.]