This is an excellent question. What is remarkable about
this great short story is the way that so much is reported through the characters'
dialogue alone - there is very little authorial intervention, and when the omniscient
narrator does speak, it is only to report things that happen - we do not receive
information what the characters are really thinking and what is going on inside of them.
Thus we have to be careful readers and, like a detective, piece together what is
happening.
It is clear that overtly at least the man
appears to be very reasonable in his tone and
diction:
"It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig,"
the man said. "It's not really an operation at all."
"I
know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air
in."
However, in spite of
this dialogue, note the way that Jig, the girl, responds. She is silent and looks
elsewhere, trying to ignore what he is saying. As you read the rest of the story it is
clear with the insistence that the man keeps on bringing this up that it is he who is
being completely unreasonable. He basically emotionally manipulates Jig into getting an
abortion and forces her into a position where she has to chose between him and her
unborn baby. This is why Jig threatens to scream and asks him to shut up towards the end
of the story.
Reasonable therefore is not an adjective I
would apply to the man - he demonstrates typical male supremacy in the way he gets what
he wants and ignores the feelings of Jig.
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