They're not your husband

Earl is a seemingly disturbed man, who becomes obsessed with his wife's weight loss and appearance after two men talk about her crudely while she is working. Raymond carver uses the story of the unemployed husband and waitressing wife to paint a realist picture of a failing marriage. Earl has nothing to really live for and so becomes obsessed with the most menial of tasks, getting his wife to lose weight. It completely consumes him so that when she says that people at work are worrying about her, his possessive streak shows and his reply is 'they're not your husband', giving him self an undeserved sense of entitlement. When Earl re enters the place where his wife works, the other wait staff are convinced that he is some creep off the street because his demeanor is less that of a proud husband and more similar to a deprived pervert.