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An Analysis Of Jerry Conant's The Reacting Of Richard

2936 Words12 Pages

The novel is the drama of inner mental conflict of Jerry Conant who wants to decide which among these two women will make his life the happiest. This quest of hero for an ontological freedom finds him entangled in the mundane domestic relations from which he wants to relieve. He wants to be free from all the social constraints he has due to being married. Marriage has been summarized by Kerry Ahearn for her excellent argument as:
Marriage is enforced by the ceremonial code and notarized by the contractual law, but confirmation of one’s existence requires passion, and passion demands freedom.” (P. 62)
The desired freedom from marriage leads him to the freedom of adultery grounding such a sexual dynamics. Updike explicitly denies the connection between freedom and adultery in Marry Me though the basic question is left unanswered if adultery implies freedom.
The novel is set in Connecticut in the early 1960s, opens with the traditional triangle of love. The traditional struggle of two men for a woman is replaced by the struggle of two women competing for a man.It is the story of Jerry Conant; an incurable romantic man conducts his …show more content…

The reaction of other character illustrates his aura of delusion and immaturity in which they have clocked themselves all along. At the last part of the book, Ruth became a stronger character and we begin to care about what happens to her. She keeps a strict watch on the lovers. She also tries to tempt Jerry from her treatment and love to him. Though she show him that she is ready to leave him but in reality she is not willing to destroy her marriage.Richard is ready to sue Jerry for his offense of adultery with his wife without marrying her. He leaves Sally alone at home and goes away from the house but visits her frequently to check if she is fine. This becomes too confusing situation that gives three possible ends of the

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Page 28). He also seems restless and impatient, but still respecting to his parents (he obeys his mother). To me it seems that Ruth and Walter are both stressed (they argue a lot and Ruth already has “disappointment hanging in her face” page 24), due to the family’s financial state. Their relationship seems rocky, yet you can tell they both love each other. Ruth seems to be tired and restless, having worked too much and doing housework.

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Ruth tells James about her past although she avoided and ran away from it for many years. She passed on her actions and reactions to her children, especially James, as she formed a family. James learning about his mother's past made him realize that he resembles Ruth in many ways. They both grieved on their own, but how they grieved was similar. Whether it was drugs or a bike ride, they both had their own way to run.

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But try as she might, “She couldn’t make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossom in the spring.” (106) This was a new kind of love, a more dangerous type of love that Janie had never before experienced and as she so aptly says, “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (114) No longer will security dictate Janie’s definition of love, it is time for her to make her own interpretation. Tea Cake and Janie soon get married and start their lives anew in the Everglades, blissfully coexisting and enjoying the others company.

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This shows many people that although it might, in some way be easier to give up, it is best to push a little harder and aim for better things. In conclusion Ruth, with the many difficulties that were thrown her way

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Through his work Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson presents an interesting take on a small town in America. During his story, he makes a comment on the downfalls of heterosexual relationships and why these relationships do not work. To example the problem with these relationships, he focuses in on the actions of both men and women. Throughout the story, the narrator shows readers again and again that desire can be confusing for both men and women, but a man’s desire rules over woman’s desire, and a woman’s desire benefits a man. The narrator does not grant any character the liberty of fulling explaining their desire to another character, but regardless of whether the men understand a woman’s desire or not, the male’s desire is more important

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One example of how Ruth’s sorrow is shown to the reader is early in the story when the narrator introduces Ruth, saying that “Ruth’s arm, linked with Matt’s tightened, he looked at her. Beneath her eyes there was swelling from the three days she had suffered” (111). This introduction to Ruth’s character is able to display her feelings of loss because of the fact that one of the first traits the reader learns about Ruth is that she had cried for three days after the loss of Frank, which does clearly show her sorrow because of the fact that three days is definitely a strangely long time to be crying for, especially since it seems like the entire family, besides her, had already moved on from crying about the loss. Another example of how Ruth is affected by loss is shown the night of Richard’s murder when Matt reflects on how “he believed Ruth knew... When Ruth said good night she looked at his face, and he felt she could see see in his eyes the gun, and the night he was going to” (116-117).

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One example of how Ruth’s sorrow is shown to the reader is early in the story when the narrator introduces her, saying “Ruth’s arm, linked with Matt’s tightened, he looked at her. Beneath her eyes there was swelling from the three days she had suffered” (111). This introduction to Ruth’s character is able to display her feelings of misery because of the fact that one of the first traits the reader learns about Ruth is that she had cried for three days after the loss of Frank, which informs the reader that Ruth’s most prominent trait in the story is going to be her misery and that all of her other traits are just secondary when compared to her suffering. Another example of how Ruth is affected by loss and suffering is shown the night of Richard’s murder when Matt reflects on how “he believed Ruth knew... When Ruth said good night she looked at his face, and he felt she could see in his eyes the gun, and the night he was going to” (116-117).

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Yet, at home, she devotes love and curiosity to her family. This contrasts to multiple other characters, as the relationship between Ruth and her single mother is inspiring. Accordingly, she respects her mother, who provides encouragements like, “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” With pure gratitude, Ruth seeks to apply her mother’s words. When bullies trouble Philip, Ruth can empathise with him.

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Although she was madly in love with Abelard, Heloise would much rather be considered his friend, or even his prostitute, than any title even resembling that of a wife. She writes, “the name of wife may seem more sacred or binding, but sweeter for me will be always be the word friend, or… that of concubine or whore,” (Heloise 51). When Abelard proposes marriage, Heloise does all in her power to dissuade him from this notion. She tells him of “the loss to the Church and grief of philosophers which would greet such a which would greet such a marriage,” (Abelard 13). When these points do not dissuade Abelard, Heloise tells him of the “annoyances of marriage and its endless anxieties,” (Abelard 14), and that their marriage would ultimately be a form of Abelard’s servitude to her.

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Ruth was born in Poland in 1921. She is James’ mother and she has lived quite a rough life. She was born in Poland, but raised in the south. Her and her siblings weren’t loved by their father, he was quite cruel. She had been sexually abused by her father and was very scared of him, but didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.

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