Blog #2-Reaction to The Pit (5-9)

Between chapter five and nine of The Pit, many interesting character developments occur. This is especially the case in Laura Jadwin. Prior to their marriage, Laura appeared to be a young, giddy girl, out for a good time with any man willing to entreat her. It is only after her marriage that Laura’s interpretation of love becomes obvious. I am quite surprised at her definitions of love, which are both outlandish and almost contradictory. On one occasion, Laura defines love as only one way affections, of a material and servile nature, of the husband towards the wife. She continues on to say that the wife can, in turn, be very cold towards her husband (149). To me, it seems completely ridiculous to call this love, and what’s more, that this interpretation isn’t immediately denounced by Page when she explains it. Indeed love is not the easiest thing to define, but common sense would dictate that this doesn’t even come close.

In addition, this and other explanations of love have a clear material aspect. In other words, it seems that Laura married Jadwin primarily because he had the means (money) to obtain material possessions. For Laura, marriage is simply a means to an end (power and freedom of ideas), and the supposed love holding the marriage together is driven by material gain. I am not saying that Laura is stupid, she understands completely that money makes things easier and if all one needs to do to obtain such a life, then surrendering oneself to a marriage is completely appropriate. Laura clearly outlines this when she interprets love as “less a victory than a capitulation” (181). An interesting observation is that both Laura and Page, initially, have no intention of marrying anyone. Page goes so far as to prefer being a nun. Yet both Laura and Page ultimately surrender to the idea of marriage. Is this because they both realize the financial implications of marriage, that is they both “love” their husbands; or does Page differ from Laura, possessing genuine affections for Landry Court. This may be an interesting question to pursue further, as well as the influence of Laura’s readings on her seemingly spontaneous and random acts when Jadwin returns home, such as the costume drama in the library, and the morbid French poem.