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When “A Little Cloud” opens, Annie and Little Chandler have been married for just under two years; they also have a young son. Annie is not depicted in a particularly flattering light throughout the story. Her husband acknowledges her beauty but, in the same breath, he calls her “cold,” “mean,” “unconscious,” and “unladylike.” He briefly admires a picture of Annie in a blouse that he bought her but he quickly fixates on the memory of her getting frustrated with him after he bought it. Little Chandler has disdain for his wife and for the domestic sphere in general. However, readers can determine that Little Chandler’s resentment is likely misplaced. There are three examples throughout “A Little Cloud” in which Little Chandler bitterly reflects on Annie’s temperament. In the first example, Annie is frustrated with her husband because she has to go out at night and run the errand that he was supposed to do earlier in the day. In the second example, Little Chandler recalls that Annie got upset when he gave her the blouse because he spent too much of their money on it. Finally, Annie returns home from the errand and scolds her husband for both waking up their son and being unable to soothe his screaming. In all of these examples, Little Chandler is actually the one at fault. Perhaps it is easier for Little Chandler to blame Annie instead of taking responsibility for trapping them both in a life that he never appears to have wanted.
