The Girls in Their Summer Dresses

On Fifth Avenue toward Washington Square

• Michael constantly looks at other women as they walk by on the street, but he seems unaware that she has previously noticed his habitual girl-watching.

• He is an unsubtle husband and shows little respect for his wife.

• “The lean man from Ohio”, “My wife has an idea”, “The Great Meeting Place” (referring to the bed, capitalization), “What party intends to prevent me from seeing my wife alone on Sunday?”… 

=> enjoy making jokes by using irony.

• While Frances is talking about their plans, selecting the activities that she knows her husband will enjoy, Michael gets distracted by the hatless girl with the dark hair, cut dancer-style, like a helmet and just mumbles one word “Sure” when Frances asks if he is listening to the plans.

• He is not seriously engaged in their conversation as he does not express much emotions of feelings towards it.

• He doesn’t neither notice Frances’s desire to please him nor appreciate his wife’s devotion to him.

• When Frances reveals her frustration at Michael’s habitual girl-watching, he insists that he takes only an occasional glance: "Not the truth…I look at a woman once in a while…", “God gave me eyes… I casually inspect the universe.", and emphasizes "I'm a happily married man.", "I'm wonderfully happily married,…"

• He makes its seem like he doesn't do it on purpose, he isn't doing anything wrong by letting his eyes wander, but that it's something he can't control.
• He tries to convince her that he loves her and is happily married.
• At first, he tries to be evasive and indirect with Frances.‬‬‬

• "Hey, let's have a drink," Michael said, stopping.
• … Mike said, choosing his words with care, "it's a nice day and we both feel good and there's no reason why we have to break it up…”
• They joined hands consciously and walked without talking…

• He tries to defuse the tension in their argument.

• The changes in their action and behavior seemingly shows intimacy but the conflict has not yet been solved.

• When Frances deliberately ignore their present problem and starts to make their conversation natural, Michael brings up the matter again. This time he said very seriously. "I have not touched another woman. Not once. In all the five years."
• In his inadequate attempt to reassure his wife, and more importantly, to defend himself he says that looking at the other sex is so natural that women do it too: "Some women're like that, too,..." 

• He pays attention to the problem as he believes he doesn’t do anything wrong to his wife.  
• He then tries to minimize the importance of his “innocent” and “natural” women-ogling habit.

At a bar on 8th street

• As he leads Frances to the bar on Eighth Street, he is “buttoning his coat, looking thoughtfully at his neatly shined heavy brown shoes.”

• He’s carefully observant of himself but not very attentive to his wife.

• Michael and Frances drink to conceal the cracks in their relationship but the alcohol spurs him to acknowledge his infatuation with other women…:

"I look at women," he said. "Correct. I don't say it's wrong or right, I look at them…."

"I love the way women look… When I first came to New York… the first thing I noticed, the million wonderful women,…”

• …and confess truthfully what he think,: "I like the girls in the offices. Neat, with their eyeglasses, smart, chipper,… I like the girls on Forty-fourth Street at lunchtime, the actresses,… I like the salesgirls in Macy's, paying attention to you first because you're a man,…”
• …and admit since she “asked for it”…:

 “I can't help but look at them. I can't help but want them.”

 "I love you, but I also want them. Okay."

• At this point, his admission finally occurs and he is cruelly honest to Frances.

• He is able to describe in details how he like other women in front of his wife => indifferent to her feelings >< strong desire to content himself.

• He decides to tell her the truth because Frances progressively presses him.

• When Frances is crying face down into her handkerchief, “Michael didn't say anything. He sat watching the bartender slowly peel a lemon.”
• Under Frances’s prodding, Michael at last says that yes, he “would like to be free,” and that, at some point, he’s “going to make a move.”
• In the end, when Frances got up from the table, “Michael watched her walk, thinking, What a pretty girl, what nice legs.”

• He does nothing to console her and admit everything she harshly asks because he thinks he has told her the truth she wants to know, he has done enough to clarify her doubt and please her => selfish, childish, immature.

• Instead of trying to see and understand his wife’s inner feelings, he pays attention to her physical appearance. => superficial.

→ Michael is a typical and terrible husband. He’s typical in that he’s a man and it’s his nature to stare at other women but it’s also very inconsiderate of him to watch women and “want” them in the presence of his wife. He finds “the girls in their summer dresses” appeal to him perhaps because his approach to middle age makes him aware of the loss of his own youth and only by visually pursuing other women can he ease his feeling of loss. However, there is no evidence that he will cheat on Frances as he has not touched another woman in five years, he’s honest with her when telling the truth and somehow her appearance still attracts his attention. Michael loves Frances but he loves himself more. Furthermore, his lack of commitment in their relationship may cause their marriage to fall apart.