“Average Waves in Unprotected Waters,” originally published in the February 28, 1977 edition of The New Yorker, is one of American author Anne Tyler’s most anthologized stories. Through the third-person-limited point of view of the protagonist, Bet Blevins, Tyler presents the story of a single mother on the day she intends to institutionalize her developmentally disabled son, Arnold. As Bet struggles to navigate her complex emotions regarding Arnold, the story explores themes of the conflicting and changing roles of motherhood, identity, and self-discovery. These themes appear frequently in Tyler’s novels and mirror some of her own struggles as a wife, mother, and writer. Tyler is a best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and has published widely over the past six decades.

This guide refers to the version of the story from the original February 28, 1977 edition of The New Yorker, which can be accessed via the magazine’s online archive.

Set in suburban, middle-class Maryland, the story begins at first light, as Bet wakes her son, Arnold, and dresses him. She tries to make him eat, but he refuses, and Bet takes this as a sign that he can tell “something [is] up” (32). Arnold looks and dresses “the same as any other nine-year-old” (32), but he is non-verbal and only communicates through grunts, gestures, and other noises. Bet leaves Arnold at the table and begins to tidy up the room, which she describes as dingy, cluttered, and beyond any brightening or redecorating, much like the rest of the house. As Bet gets dressed in loafers and her best dress, she expresses that she feels weak and small—too “wispy for all she [has] to do that day” (32). She only allows herself to feel her fatigue and brokenness briefly, however, and she immediately dons her coat and blue kerchief and tells Arnold they are going out.

As Bet tries to put his coat on—a nice, expensive coat, but not his favorite—Arnold begins rocking, shaking his head, and fighting her efforts. She remarks that even though Arnold has a lanky frame, he is strong, and he has already become overpowering. Bet finally succeeds in putting Arnold’s coat on, but she is bothered by how untidy he looks.

Bet gives one more look around the room, grabs Arnold’s already-packed suitcase and her purse, and they leave, Arnold dragging his feet all the way. Downstairs, they encounter Mrs. Puckett, who has been Arnold’s babysitter for many years and only quit recently, “when he’d grown too strong and wild to manage” (32). Mrs. Puckett has made Arnold some of his favorite peanut butter cookies for the journey, but he does not take them; instead, he runs out the door. Bet wishes that Arnold would show some sign of gratitude or affection toward Mrs. Puckett, and when she sees his reaction, she takes the cookies and thanks Mrs. Puckett for him.

Bet and Arnold take a bus to the train station. Arnold recognizes Bet’s place of work when they pass and tries to stand up but Bet calms him. At the train station, Bet is bothered by people staring at Arnold, and she reacts by straightening his collar and leading him to the gate. As this is Arnold’s first time on a train, he is initially nervous, but after a while, the movement of the train calms him, and he eventually falls asleep. At this point in the story, their destination is unclear. 

While Arnold is asleep, Bet’s mind turns to memories. She thinks about Arnold’s infancy, remembering that he always had trouble sleeping. This flashback provides the first mention of Arnold’s father, Avery, an “ordinary” man with a “stocky body” whom Bet married “against her parents’ wishes” (33). Bet remembers that Arnold’s erratic movements during sleep caused the couple concern, and after they talked to the doctor, Avery stopped interacting with Arnold. Both Bet and Avery struggled to understand the origin of Arnold’s condition; they blamed each other, themselves, and their environment, and ultimately, they could only view Arnold’s disability as a problem rather than working together to help him. Bet was not surprised when Avery eventually left the family.

This memory leads Bet to reminisce about her parents and upbringing. She remembers that she married Avery to “get away from home” (33), but now, on the train, she cannot remember why she was so intent on leaving. Because of the distance that time provides, she idealizes her young life in Salt Spray, Maryland. She pictures her father, a fisherman who loved the sea, and recalls how he tried to teach her to bodysurf; instead she “stood staunch” and let the waves crash into her (33). On the heels of this memory, Bet laments marrying Avery and not being around when her parents died. Despite those regrets, she still contends that she would never have considered leaving Avery because she “took some comfort in enduring” (34).

After these flashbacks, Arnold snaps awake and pulls Bet out of her reverie. He starts fidgeting and bouncing, and Bet becomes desperate to distract him, afraid that he will have a screaming tantrum. Just then, the conductor bursts into the car and begins harassing a Black woman across the aisle about her ticket, which provides the welcome distraction Bet needs. The ordeal sends Arnold into peals of laughter.

They disembark at the Parkinsville Railroad Station and hail a taxi, and the reader finally discovers their destination: Parkins State Hospital. Bet over-enthusiastically implores the driver to wait for her outside the hospital. As they enter, Bet observes that it looks like a luxurious mansion. She tries to push Arnold through the door, but once again, he resists, and she inwardly hopes that “maybe he [won’t] allow it, and they [will] go on home and never think of this again” (35). The inside of the hospital seems less grandiose and more impersonal. A nurse appears and escorts them through the halls to Arnold’s ward, a large, otherwise empty room “lined with little white cots” (35). While Arnold squeaks his sneakers on the floor, seemingly unaware of what is happening, the nurse informs Bet that the hospital encourages families to wait at least six months before contacting the patients so they can “settle in” (35). She then instructs Bet to say goodbye to Arnold. Bet tries to explain to the nurse how special Arnold is, handing her his favorite blanket, but the nurse brushes her off, assuring her they will take good care of her son. Bet utters an impassive goodbye to Arnold, to which he does not react, and she and the nurse leave the ward. Just as the nurse locks the doors, they hear a “single, terrible scream” (35). The origin of this scream is unclear, but before Bet has time to react, the nurse pats her on the shoulder and nudges her forward. Bet leaves in the same taxi, asking the driver to hurry to the train station.

Upon arrival at the station, Bet learns that her train is running late and she will have to wait 20 minutes to board. Bet shouts and cries because this is not what she planned. The station is vacuous and relatively devoid of people, so she sits down on a bench and frets about what she could possibly do with these extra 20 minutes. Just then, the mayor and his assistants barge into the station and set up a makeshift stage with a lectern and microphone. The mayor asks the people in the station for 20 minutes of their time to listen to his impromptu speech. At this, Bet stops crying and decides they have come “just for her sake,” to put on a “sort of private play” (36). The story ends with Bet’s resolution that “[f]rom now on, all the world was going to be like that—just something on a stage, for her to sit back and watch” (36).