Wife-Wooing by John Updike (Again)

There was just so much in this story I had to pick another passage!

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Wife-Wooing by John Updike 

"In the morning, to my relief, you are ugly. Monday's wan breakfast light bleaches you blotchily, drains the goodness from your thickness, makes the bathrobe a limp stained tube flapping disconsolately, exposing sallow décolletage."

Within this, you are presented with a character tearing apart his partner in the morning light. This whole sentence is exemplifies tricolon with the three clauses, three words in each clause. The second sentence is an extension of the first, you are ugly and here's why. There's a stark contrast in how each sentence is constructed, while the first is sparse and simple, the second sentence is lengthy, our character taking his time to eloquently pick apart this person's appearance. Each clause has a different scheme in it, the first has the consonance of the B's; breakfast, bleaches, blotchily. There is also the use of an anthimeria with his use of "bleaches," the light is not literally bleaching her, rather making her appear washed out and blotchy. The second clause balances the two adjectives, goodness and thickness, the use of -ness which lets the phrase flow quickly as you read. The third clause turns the bathrobe into something more, "a limp stained tube". He conveys the shapeless form of what is likely an old, well-worn robe. All this creates a vivid imagery of this exhausted woman, who has just gotten up and is attempting to prepare for a long week without every describing what she's doing. By this description all being one sentence it gives the feel of the speaker examining his wife with a harsh eye, picking out her imperfects.