Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
If you were Alma............
vkm91941:
You're ALL right, got to keep 2006 sensibilities and the freedom that comes with a good education from coloring the way we respond.... and keep in mind the women's movement was still very new and women were paid significantly less than men. Alma like a lot of women in her generation would have had a very hard time leaving Ennis and making it on her own. My guess is she didn't even file for that divorce until she had Monroe lined up to take Ennis' place.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 06, 2006, 12:56:42 pm ---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.
--- End quote ---
Tell you what, that's one reason I admire Alma. As puzzling or as painful or as difficult as the situation may have been for her, she doesn't tear up those postcards. That takes integrity. My Resistol is off to her!
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: vkm91941 on May 06, 2006, 01:09:01 pm ---You're ALL right, got to keep 2006 sensibilities and the freedom that comes with a good education from coloring the way we respond.... and keep in mind the women's movement was still very new and women were paid significantly less than men. Alma like a lot of women in her generation would have had a very hard time leaving Ennis and making it on her own. My guess is she didn't even file for that divorce until she had Monroe lined up to take Ennis' place.
--- End quote ---
Tell you what, Victoria, here you touch on something I've wondered about. It really goes beyond the bounds of both story and film, and there really is no evidence, but I have wondered whether some word of the burgeoning women's movement didn't get through to Alma Beers del Mar, out there in early 1970s Riverton, Wyoming, and help her to feel that she could do better in her own life than she was doing with Ennis. Maybe it did help her get up the nerve to file those divorce papers.
serious crayons:
Well, it was obvious that Monroe had had his eye on Alma for a while. And Alma no doubt picked up on that. Monroe is more prosperous, and household finances were a major concern for Alma. She's sick of being poor, and in fact it's finances, not philandering, that lead to the divorce (at least overtly). So I'm guessing that Victoria is right, Alma had Monroe waiting in the wings, or at least realized that he wouldn't be hard to nab.
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on May 06, 2006, 05:04:12 pm ---Tell you what, that's one reason I admire Alma. As puzzling or as painful or as difficult as the situation may have been for her, she doesn't tear up those postcards. That takes integrity. My Resistol is off to her!
--- End quote ---
I see your point, though somehow I don't imagine Alma thinking, "Much as I disapprove, on several levels, of my husband having an affair with another man, it would be wrong of me to try to interfere by withholding information about an upcoming tryst." She just seems wimpy. In fact, why did she hide the one postcard inside the grocery flyer? Did Ennis ever even get that one?
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: latjoreme on May 06, 2006, 05:51:56 pm ---Well, it was obvious that Monroe had had his eye on Alma for a while. And Alma no doubt picked up on that. Monroe is more prosperous, and household finances were a major concern for Alma. She's sick of being poor, and in fact it's finances, not philandering, that lead to the divorce (at least overtly). So I'm guessing that Victoria is right, Alma had Monroe waiting in the wings, or at least realized that he wouldn't be hard to nab.
--- End quote ---
Agree. Despite Ennis' affair with Jack, in the end, I kind of have the feeling had Ennis been more properous and was able to 'keep' Alma in the style she wanted, she might have kept her mouth shut about it forever.
Isn't that what a lot of women did/do? Back in the days when 'women prayed and men strayed'? As long as the man kept up the aura of respectability and kept his wife and children, a woman didn't have too much to complain about. Especially one who wanted to stay home anyway.
--- Quote ---I see your point, though somehow I don't imagine Alma thinking, "Much as I disapprove, on several levels, of my husband having an affair with another man, it would be wrong of me to try to interfere by withholding information about an upcoming tryst." She just seems wimpy. In fact, why did she hide the one postcard inside the grocery flyer? Did Ennis ever even get that one?
--- End quote ---
Even if Alma tore that one up, and Ennis didn't see it, as I recall, there wasn't much info on it, just a kind of 'hey, things still look good for our trip' kind of message, one Jack wouldn't have been expecting a reply to and one Ennis could have easily not needed to read anyway. He hadn't heard from Jack, he would assume things were still on.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version