Relationships are hard, especially romantic ones. People are difficult to read, uncertain of their feelings, and often find talking things out to be too much effort. In Russell Bank's Sarah Cole: A Love Story and Bobbie Ann Mason's Shiloh, the lead male characters lose touch with their love interests. They do so because they do not communicate with their significant others.
Ron never truly intended to love Sarah. Yes, near the end of the story he tells one of Sarah's coworkers that he loved her. He didn't, though; as Sarah's coworker puts it, "'Sure you did, honey'" (Banks 70). Instead, Ron was in love with the idea of Sarah. A woman so unattractive, somehow being in a relationship as attractive as he, is very appealing to a man with little sense of love. Around Ron, Sarah was "self-conscious" (Banks 69), something she wasn't with her ex-husband. Sarah went back to her ex-husband because Ron treated her so poorly.
Her ex-husband physically and mentally abused her, but Ron used her,
which Sarah felt was worse. Ron does not know how to love someone as who they are; he only knows how to make decisions at the turn of a dime.
Leroy, on the other hand, harbors feelings of regret and frustration. These feelings carry over into his relationship with Norma Jean. He recently injured his leg while truck-driving and is home more often. This reminds Norma Jean of the "child who died as an infant, years ago", having Leroy at home so much, reminding her of the "early days of their marriage, before he went on the road" (Mason 461). In order to compensate for his unwanted presence, Leroy wants to do something for his wife. He wants to build her a log cabin. He believes this log cabin will solve everything about their marriage, not realizing that in order to repair his relationship he will have to actually talk to Norma Jean and hear her side of the story.
Ron and Leroy certainly do not represent all men, nor do their significant others represent all women. The two couples simply share the circumstances that neither man can connect with his woman. Miscommunication and separate hopes and dreams distance each pair. Both Ron and Leroy exhibit the trait of not truly loving their lover and are characterized as men distanced from their feelings and people close to them.
This is an interesting comparison, however I don't think the comparison piece of it should be explained in the concluding paragraph. You state your assertion in the introduction that both male leads are similar because of how they act with their wives, but don't touch on that statement until the conclusion. Weaving the similarities in throughout would strengthen the claim. Also, I'm not sure if I agree that Leroy does not love his wife, as it is Norma who does not want to work out their problems and it is she who ends the relationship without a fight. I like the idea/theme a lot and it is a different way to look at these two stories.
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