Patrick Holst Jervild 3.b Aalborghus Gymnasium Engelsk, 10.9.2008
For Their Own Survival
Living with the knowledge of being with the woman that you deeply adore and admire is one of the best things in the whole wide world. You know that your feelings are mutual and whatever you wish to do, your soul mate will be next to you, to support and cheer you. Normally you begin to talk about children, but for Sam Fulton this was not the case. His relationship with his x-wife was a walk in the park as far as he knew, but nothing is never what it really seems. This essay seeks to explore the relationship between Sam and his x-wife Liz, and in terms of doing so, I will draw Sam's past life in to focus, where themes such as love, control, loss and crisis will play an essential role to my interpretation and analysis of the text.
The main character Sam Fulton is a man with one traumatizing problem: his wife, through 11 years of marriage has left him, without telling him why. Sam is frustrated and goes back to a Mexican village they visited together two years earlier. Here he recalls the loving words Liz had spoken: "I'll go crazy if you ever leave me ... I love you so much, I'll go crazy if you ever leave me" (text 1, line 3). These were the comforting and soothing words, which reassured Sam, if he had had any doubts in their relationship. Then one day the comforting and soothing words turned against him and threw the love he felt for his wife right back in his face: "I'll go crazy if I stay with you" (text 1, line 38). She did not know why and one can only imagine how hard it must be to be let down like this. He tries to figure out the entire mess, by thinking back on the days with Liz, which maybe could help him to find out why she left him. He also decides to borrow books on the psychology of women. Back then when he first met her, she reminded him of the recruits he was training in the army. Like them, he broke the shy and worried Liz down - physically and mentally - creating a “soldier”, strong and able to do whatever expected of her. This is a very strong example of Sam's issue with taking and keeping control. Sam looks as if he has everything in total control, but he absolutely does not. A woman like Liz will seek a man of strength and control, thinking that he can help her to structure her life. He can practice his control on this insecure woman, which makes him feel better. Seeing the control giving results makes him happy, but he has forgotten one thing and that is that he is giving her self-confidence. But practicing control does not have to be negative, and in this case I think it has helped Liz to realize that she is worth as much as anybody else. She has realized that she can choose almost who ever she wants.
