The Man Who Hugged Women
In today’s society there is a mold that everyone tries to fit into. You have to grow up, leave your childhood behind, get an education, get married and start your own family, without ever looking back. When following this course, the goal is not happiness; the goal is to live “the good life”. Most people are afraid to accept and admit that they are not necessarily happy, as much as they are content with their way of living.
In the short story The Man Who Hugged Women by Mischa Hiller, the main character is a woman called Freya, and at first it seems that she is quite satisfied with her way of living. Freya has a good friend called Pearl. Despite these women being very close, they are nothing alike. Where Freya
Opposed to The Man Who Hugs Women is Freya’s husband, Mukesh. Mukesh is a psychiatrist, and does everything the right way; meaning it has to be done his way. Mukesh does everything by the book, he buys Freya flowers, gives hugs and compliments her, but the problem is it feels like artificial affection to Freya.
Mukesh strictly controls the family. He forces their daughter to go to University, and when Freya insinuates that their daughter might be better off doing something else, Mukesh snaps and the topic is not discussed after that. Despite that Mukesh and Freya share some character traits, cynicism and realism, Freya is drawn to the spontaneous whereas Mukesh sticks to what he knows.
Throughout the story one learns that Freya is not happy in her marriage and she craves affection. At the end, when she follows The Man Who Hugs Women, she has decided to do something about it. Here the roles sort of shift between Freya and Pearl. Pearl is afraid to make the changes, and Freya is spontaneous and jumps into it and tries changing her life for the better.
The short story shows how important affection is in a healthy relationship, and how a lot of people long for affection. In addition to this the story also focuses on the importance of changing your own life if you are unhappy, you cannot sit and wait for life to change around you. It is important to do what makes yourself happy, and not