Ides of March - Review

Ides of March E&R

Dissecting Rob and Barbara

This is one the few essays and reviews I've ever done. I need the practice for a large mainstream project I'm working on. I thought with all the comments and emotions these two characters evoked it might play well. I've written in the third person, only to help remove the author's personal feelings, to a certain degree. That's the best I can do, since I wrote the piece. I didn't feel right taking up a volunteer editor's time on an essay, so all errors are on me.

The complexity of Rob and Barbara came about as a result of reading other stories (and yes, GA's February Sucks is one of them) where these spouses have this unreasonable, even unthinkable, sense of entitlement. Think about it. If Linda does that even sixty years ago, she's in the ground, not coming home to pretend there's nothing to see here. While those stricken with this false sense of entitlement are fortunately not in the majority, our society seems to provide a substantial and disproportionate platform for them to constantly pester the sane.

I wanted to see what would happen if two people, not feeling entitled, had to deal with it. No apology needed, because it rings hollow. No long talk, not much of anything. Sounds like a boring 750 word project, and many thought that was the direction I should have gone. But respectfully, my 'for sale' works are either romance or heavily socio-political, under different pen names, so I'm probably only going to write a BTB on rare occasions. As Vinnie from Brooklyn says, "you been warned."

First, and foremost, the two main characters, Rob and Barbara, are not typical individuals, at least not in the sense that they are easily relatable to a majority of readers. Secondly, they were written as two people who considered themselves 'normal'.

They go through life ambiguous to their surroundings, and the changes within their own mindsets, mostly due to social influences. Indeed, like many humans, they focus on the mundane day-to-day, until a singular or set of circumstances jump up and bite them on the bum.

The plot and setting, in this case are built around and made to suit the unsuspecting couple, in order for the two main characters to realize the paradoxes of their lives, at precisely the right time. The set up and suspense build up came as a result of many other similar stories on this free site. Plots that force one character into an impossible or at minimum, improbable, situation, and while at the same time having that character commit a betrayal of the worst kind against a person they claim to love.

And truly in love they are, despite the betrayal. Contrary to the emotional comments, every human has been in the situation where they must choose between egregious and moral. All humans are at one time or another involved in a set of circumstances that mandate a split second decision. One, in fact, that once made, can never be taken back.

It's up to the reader to compare the series of events and the characters actions to similar time in their own lives. Some of those true-life circumstances may even be more amoral than the fiction presented by the author. So the paradoxes come in series, as the characters try to understand or level the choices they've made. Perhaps a closer look is in order.

Barbara, portrayed as a mother and wife-of-the-year type, considers her love for husband and family, but only on the surface. The idiom, "comfortable as an old shoe" comes to mind. While she 'feels' loving, she also simply slips into her loving role at the beginning of everyday. Meanwhile, Barbara is subconsciously setting herself up for a day when the burden of child-rearing is no longer. Empty nest syndrome rears its ugly head long before most parents wave good-bye to their children's rearview. In American society, this same subconscious action occurs many hundreds of thousands of times each day. The number is more likely in the tens of millions per day.

None of these subconscious thoughts and beliefs merit any excuse for Barbara's actions. They merely contribute. Barbara made a conscious decision that she instantly regretted, yet also enjoyed. That's all.

Unlike Linda, of February fame, Barbara does not pre-plan her predicament. Once again, she clearly owns the ability to stop it from happening, yet there is no cold calculating or other motives. Barbara perpetuates her own demise, by allowing the disaster to move along in time until her ability to actually stop is greatly diminished. The author wants her in this setting, this personal conflict. Will she choose to go home, or now that she's gone on a plutonic date with her hero, will she cave to the enormous peer pressure of going to the celebrity's suite, already knowing the extreme danger she's putting herself in?

The reader is swayed or at least, gently pushed to perceive what Barbara will do, once in the proverbial spider's web. The much younger, famous male paramour is clearly concerned mostly with his status and reputation, even while pretending to support Barbara and normalize the actions which he hopes they will soon partake of.

The biggest distinction, between Barbara and all the Linda look-a-likes in this genre is her desire to recognize her despicable actions for what they are. No 'plain 'ole, same 'ole me' upon returning to her family. No excuses provided, no reciting from the cheater's handbook, and no opportunity to apologize to an extremely angry spouse until things cool down. These actions, or inactions, depending on the reader, come across as cold and unrepentant on Barbara's part. That was the author's intent.

Also intended, were the social belief changes, no matter how minor. The government and the media literally envelope every person's conscious 24/7, unless a person lives off the grid, in a cabin in the wilderness. Conscious and subconscious messaging is happening right now in the background while you read this. It's thousands of messages per hour that most modern humans endure. Barbara knew for a fact what she's done was wrong. She may have felt slightly vindicated by her friends and work mates who she suddenly realized did not place as high a value on fidelity as she did. That would only salve her internal guilt temporarily.

Rob appears as a strong man in the tale's beginning, and a likeable guy. He overcomes a horrible on-the-job injury and is a community hero of sorts. Rob is a good family man with high standards and morals. The author hints that Rob, like many boys of the time period, were given a steady dose of feminism and 'do what feels good' from his Mother who may have been in a FLR with Rob's Dad. Rob clearly dismisses that ideology as silliness, which unbeknownst to Rob at the time actually, made him less like his father than he thought.

After the incident in Las Vegas, the Rob the author painted seems to vanish. Was he suddenly weak, or simply paralyzed? Part three provides the insight into his thinking. His paralysis morphs into wanting nothing more from the marriage or his wayward wife. It's only after his new-found freedoms start to become mundane that he begins to reconcile Barbara's actions within himself. Rob also matured over those six years, and as is always the result, finds himself on more of a middle ground related to his belief system. He's then decidedly unsure if he can or wants to reconcile them with her, or if she even wants that. The author could have found Rob a new love interest, and shortened the story by half. He certainly made the kinds of positive changes in his life to align with a new and fresh love.

Rob finds himself in an impossible situation when Barbara leaves with Billy, and then doesn't return that night. Like most 'real' men, Rob is weighing the possibilities and what he's willing to accept, or not. Most men like the Rob portrayed in this story, have a first instinct to forgive the people they love. So it goes unsaid that they dare only draw the line of what is forgivable and what is not. Evidence, possibilities and options

Both Rob and Barbara considered themselves intelligent, righteous, caring and loving people, until one night and in a series of cataclysmic events, the curtain was drawn back, and they were forced to re-evaluate who they really were - who they'd really become. The auction, winning a date, and spending the night, in this case was not THE reason for the marriage ending, but only the catalyst. They were not all that intelligent or careful with their relationship. They didn't put the work in.

Outside influences and especially the laziness that many long term couples face, that is, to constantly work on your marriage, surely contributed to their demise. But the inner reflection, on both of their parts, also contributed to their eventual reconciliation. Finally realizing her flaws, Barbara sets out yo become a better person. Rob self-evaluates too, and seems to tick things off his list of self-improvement.

The question remains: is the scenario even possible? Absolutely. These types of auctions happen quite often and they rarely exclude married people from participating. What would a real life person do? That's up to the individual, but my guess is that if the scenario played out exactly as laid out in the story most people would spend the night with their 'prize,' man or woman. Of course, the reckoning would vary. Perhaps one would build a case of weighing asking for permission vs. asking for forgiveness. Perhaps talking one's self into the fact that the situation is/was beyond their control. Maybe even that age-old adage of "I don't know what I was thinking" plays out. Is there any hope for the couple in this scenario? Again, that's an individual choice, and based on comments those choices also vary a great deal. It's up to each person to draw their own line in the sand, or where and when to retract it.