'Why wouldn't I be?'

[shootingstar]

'I love you. . . . '
'I just didn't . . . don't tell you that enough. I just want you to know I love you. You are a good father. And in another life - the life where I quit swimming - I am full of regret over that.'
'Nora?'
She felt awkward asking him anything, but she had to know. The questions started to burst out of her like water from a geyser.
'Are you okay, Dad?'
'Why wouldn't I be?'
'Just. You know . . . You used to worry about chest pains.'
'Haven't had them since I got healthy again. . . .'
(The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, episode The Successful Life)

Why does the author use "would" in this context? I would expect "should" instead of "would" there: 'Why shoudn't I be?'

 

[jutfrank]

To put it simply, we use Why wouldn't ... ? (followed by a pronoun) when we want to ask why somebody has just asked a question. There are several reasons we might want to do this. In this case, Dad is perfectly okay, so he's therefore surprised that Nora is asking such a question. He's asking her to explain why she has asked him this.

 

[shootingstar]

To put it simply, we use Why wouldn't ... ? (followed by a pronoun) when we want to ask why somebody has just asked a question. There are several reasons we might want to do this. In this case, Dad is perfectly okay, so he's therefore surprised that Nora is asking such a question. He's asking her to explain why she has asked him this.

Thank you.
Your answer isn't addressing the "should issue", I'm afraid; that is, the use of "would" in this example has not been distinguished from that of "should". Would you mind differentiating the use of "would" from that of "should" in this sentence.

 

[probus]

The problem, in my opinion, is that we often use ‘should’ to express duty or obligation. What one should do is what one ought to do. Here Dad's question is rhetorical. He is not expecting an answer. Instead, he is saying there is no reason to suppose he is not okay.

 

[jutfrank]

Your answer isn't addressing the "should issue", I'm afraid

There is no 'should' issue, I'm afraid. The phrase is Why wouldn't I be? and not Why shouldn't I be?

I'll repeat what I said before: The item of language that you should notice here is Why wouldn't ... ? followed by a pronoun and sometimes a further verb, and the associated usage that this pattern has. You cannot use 'should' for this and so there does not exist any version of the sentence using that word. The correct word is 'would' and there's no reason to make any connection to 'should'. I can try to find some more examples of this usage if you'd like.

I can't comment on why you mistakenly expect 'should' to appear in this context, but if you attempt to explain why you think so, we might be able to clarify things for you.

 

[Annabel Lee]

He is not expecting an answer. Instead, he is saying there is no reason to suppose he is not okay.

As I understand it, the question "Why wouldn't I be?" could, in this conversational context, be paraphrased "Why would you suppose otherwise?," that is, "Why would you suppose that I am not okay?" Nora's asking the question "Are you okay, Dad?" implies that she is unsure whether her dad is okay; she has reason to think he might not be okay, and the question inquires what that reason is. The answer could be plugged into the counterfactual "If I ___________, then I wouldn't be okay." In the context of the conversation, we have something like this: "If I were continuing to have chest pains, then I wouldn't be okay."