Donnelly

End? 

Moreover, the verbal language used once again addresses the superficiality in the couple's marriage. The quote "I think I'd look ____" is a very surface level interpretation of the value of a wife or husband in a marriage. This assumes that marriages are based on maintaining appearances rather than true partnership, limiting a woman's ability to step outside these set boundaries for her and seek independence. 

Beginning? 

Similarly, in Donnelly's "I think I'd look better without you" cartoon, the theme of superficiality within relationships is dominant. Donnelly's choice of picturing the couple in their bedroom, a place often associated with closeness and intimacy, is juxtaposed by the detachment in their relationship. The man's emotionless facial expressions, as implied by Donnelly's illustration of his unsmiling mouth, and the couple's body language with their backs to each other, portrays how disconnected they are. 

Middle? 

The couple's actions also suggest this, where we see that despite being in their bedroom, where one is typically the truest version of themselves, they are getting ready to leave this space and maintain appearances in society. Although both of them are dressing, the aloofness that the man exudes whilst doing do, with his complacent stare into space and him knotting his tie half-heartedly. Alternatively, the woman is perched upon a stool, leaning towards the mirror and gazing intently into the mirror. Comparatively, the woman seems more attentive to how she presents herself, and this speaks of how women often feel obligated to abide by beauty expectations to be seen by others, as well as their husbands. Women are expected to uphold their marriages, but also be seen as beautiful by their spouses, and here the impossibility of a woman being able to fulfill all that is expected of them is conveyed.