Post by elisabeth on Apr 7, 2008 12:17:49 GMT -6
Just wondering: would Libbie have said "yes" to Custer if she'd met his family first?
I'm just assuming she hadn't, of course. That may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any meeting during their courtship.
If correct: all she knows of Custer is the glamorous lad in the General's uniform. He's a rising star, and thus exciting; he's a "bad boy" (the drunkenness scene she & family witnessed), and thus exciting; he's from the wrong side of the tracks, and thus also exciting; he's explicit about his sexual interest in her, and thus even more exciting; but up until the time of the marriage, he kind of exists in a vacuum as far as she's concerned.
Her life until the marriage, give or take the year or so at school in equally decorous Auburn, had been lived in the decorous home of the Judge in Monroe, Michigan. No horseplay; no loud voices; not even any animals around (as far as one can tell) until some kittens she acquired at the age of fourteen. The culture-shock of finding herself married into a family given over to rambunctiousness and practical jokes, in which the quietest tone of voice was a shout, bursting to the seams with boisterous young boys and the (if anything) more boisterous sister Maggie, must have come as ... a breath of fresh air? or a moment of oh-my-God-what-have-I-got-myself-into? The class difference alone must have struck her forcefully. In the early days, she might have told herself these were salt-of-the-earth people, and overlooked the -- let's face it -- vulgarity that must have been so apparent in contrast to her father's regime. But after a while -- particularly in Texas, where she had to get used to (a) "Father Custer" being around all the time, and (b) the growing menagerie of dogs, a species she'd never apparently had to deal with before -- she must surely have begun to ask herself what she'd contracted into.
Obviously, she was stuck with the bargain she'd made. And she clearly resolved to make the best of it. But ... one can't help wondering if she had her moments of regretting it, and of wondering what life might have held for her if she'd been a little more patient ...?
I'm just assuming she hadn't, of course. That may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any meeting during their courtship.
If correct: all she knows of Custer is the glamorous lad in the General's uniform. He's a rising star, and thus exciting; he's a "bad boy" (the drunkenness scene she & family witnessed), and thus exciting; he's from the wrong side of the tracks, and thus also exciting; he's explicit about his sexual interest in her, and thus even more exciting; but up until the time of the marriage, he kind of exists in a vacuum as far as she's concerned.
Her life until the marriage, give or take the year or so at school in equally decorous Auburn, had been lived in the decorous home of the Judge in Monroe, Michigan. No horseplay; no loud voices; not even any animals around (as far as one can tell) until some kittens she acquired at the age of fourteen. The culture-shock of finding herself married into a family given over to rambunctiousness and practical jokes, in which the quietest tone of voice was a shout, bursting to the seams with boisterous young boys and the (if anything) more boisterous sister Maggie, must have come as ... a breath of fresh air? or a moment of oh-my-God-what-have-I-got-myself-into? The class difference alone must have struck her forcefully. In the early days, she might have told herself these were salt-of-the-earth people, and overlooked the -- let's face it -- vulgarity that must have been so apparent in contrast to her father's regime. But after a while -- particularly in Texas, where she had to get used to (a) "Father Custer" being around all the time, and (b) the growing menagerie of dogs, a species she'd never apparently had to deal with before -- she must surely have begun to ask herself what she'd contracted into.
Obviously, she was stuck with the bargain she'd made. And she clearly resolved to make the best of it. But ... one can't help wondering if she had her moments of regretting it, and of wondering what life might have held for her if she'd been a little more patient ...?