When a wife surprises her husband on his birthday, an ironic turn of events occurs. “The Birthday Party” by Katherine Brush is a short story about relationships, told from the perspective of a close observer. Brush uses the words and actions of the married couple to argue that a relationship based on selfishness is weak. Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to emphasize his message and strengthen the story. The husband's words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife's gift with words that are "punishing... quick, sharp, and nasty" (19), he is selfish. Selfishness is about taking, just like love is about giving. He took away her emotional energy, and she “weeps softly and heartbroken” (21). By using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and harms their relationship. The husband was also selfish in his actions. With good intentions, his wife had planned a surprise for him, but he was not happy. “Instead, he was extremely embarrassed and outraged at his wife for embarrassing him” (13). When the narrator describes the husband at the beginning, he has a “self-satisfied face” (3). Embarrassment is the result of feeling embarrassed. Due to his self-conscious nature, he first assesses how the few people in the restaurant will perceive him because of his wife's actions. He does not prioritize appreciating his wife's efforts and care, but instead sees the worst in her misguided actions. The husband's selfishness causes him to be proud, which leads him to destroy his relationship with his wife through his actions. In a subtle way, Brush also makes his wife's actions selfish. Although her husband was wrong to react this way, she was also selfish in her actions. Obviously, her husband has a shy personality because “he was extremely embarrassed” (13) in front of “so few people as there were in the restaurant” (11). Using a couple of this age (“late thirties” (1)), Brush asserts that the wife should have known and been sensitive to her husband’s preferences. The author also uses seemingly opposing descriptions of the couple: "There was nothing visible about them" (5) and the woman's "big hat" (4). The big hat reveals the woman's desire to be noticed.