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If you were Alma............

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vkm91941:
Now seriously if you opened the door and saw your husband (wife or significant other) making out with someone could you close the door and never say anything for twelve years?????????? How would you have handled it?



Me, you ask...catching that kiss and then him staying out all night, coming home only long enough to grab his toothbrush and a clean shirt?  He'd a found the locks changed and his butt kicked to the curb when he got back from "fishin"  :(

starboardlight:
you reaction is indicative of how much things have changed for women. today, while it's still scary to be a single mother, it's not such a taboo anymore. and women today do make more money than Alma would have been able to in the 60's. daycare is very common place assistance for working parents. I think Alma really just didn't see how to extract herself out of her situation. Even if she wanted kick Ennis to the curb, she didn't have the means to survive on her own. I think if I had been in her shoes, I'd have been just as lost and confused about what to do next.

delalluvia:
Well, I imagine the hardest time would have been the remaining 5 years until she divorced Ennis, then it was a lot easier since Ennis was no longer around and she was busy with Monroe and the girls and she only had to deal with Ennis at the most once a month.

And like star said, it was harder for women like Alma back then.  Especially as her goal seemed to be geared more toward wanting to be a stay at home mom.  She couldn't accomplish that by leaving Ennis and going home to her folks.  She needed a new man with the right stuff.

Jeff Wrangler:
Agreed, Star and Del.

When Alma does kick Ennis to the curb, in Annie Proulx's story economics seems to play a considerable role in the decision, in my reading, with Ennis's relationship with Jack only one factor. Before that, her opportunities were pretty limited--a part-time job in a grocery store, with two little ones to care for. We don't know whether she even finished high school or was a drop-out like Ennis.

I've never really given this much thought until now, but I'm guessing Monroe (or Bill, in the story) was waiting in the wings for the divorce to be finalized. When Alma married "the Riverton grocer," she was clearly "marrying up" the economic ladder. The film illustrates this pretty well in the Thanksgiving dinner sequence.

serious crayons:
I agree with everybody so far. And I'll add that even beyond economics it can be hard to give the boot to a man you love, especially if you're as mystified as Alma may have been about what was going on.

Tell you what, though, I sure would have started ripping up those postcards.

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