It is an interesting thing to read, because I don’t see like that (as I imagine most of us don’t). Yet, the reader can see that even when she gives him the last piece of her (the ribbon) she is still convincing herself that he is a good man. Machado does a beautiful job at painting the narrator as someone who is devoted to her husband, giving him all of her, even when she doesn’t want to. What I think is more interesting than this element of fantastic is how Machado covers and twists the rape of the female protagonist as something that isn’t, or shouldn’t be, considered rape because she is in love with the notion of rape being even less important when the two are married. I agree that the element of this ribbon being “forbidden” is something that makes her lover more intrigued. Posted in Consent, Desire 2 Responses to “Consent, Desire, and “The Husband Stitch”” I assure him that he will understand when he is grown. I tell him that we are all different, and sometimes you should not ask questions. He asks me about the ribbon, point blank. Throughout the story, we see the husband try multiple times to untie the ribbon, breaking the trust of his wife, and even influencing his young son to do the same. There are two rules: he cannot finish inside of me, and he cannot touch my green ribbon. On page 7, we see the narrator establish two very important rules for her husband. However, there is an even more unsettling element that plays into this story: her ribbon. This quote already poses the problem of consent in their relationship from early on, because she is nervous and uncertain about the new experience of having sex, which is a frightening feeling for most young women to begin with. He is hard and hot and smells like bread, and when he breaks me I scream and cling to him like I am lost at sea. I am not truly sure what he is going to do before he does it. Throughout the story, we see more of a lust relationship between the narrator and her husband from a young age that continues throughout their lives. The underlying theme of this story is consent and desire. However, in the final scene, she allows him to untie the ribbon, which leads to her head falling off. Carmen Maria Machado’s story, overall, is about a woman who wears a green ribbon all her life, and throughout the story, the husband is attempting to untie the ribbon sneakily and without her consent. The “Husband Stitch” is an eerie and uncomfortable tale.

The green ribbon carmen maria machado