Burning Bright
Is It Love?
“Burning Bright” is a story about an older woman marrying a man young enough to be her son. Marcie is almost sixty. When her husband Arthur died and the local help fell away, she endured incredible loneliness at the end of a five-mile dirt track until the church recommended a handyman, Carl, who could help out on the farm. This silent man from nowhere marries Marcie, but remains mysterious. In the twenty-first century, seeing an older women and a young man is common. For most people though, the question is if the couple is truly in love. Many older women and men have large sums of money which could be given to their younger spouse if they die.
In Rosh Rash’s “Burning Bright,” Marcie is much older than Carl, and there is a huge disconnect in their relationship because of age. The first question that has to be answered is if Marcie’s marriage with Carl is a believable love story. I think that it is not really a true love story. There is a part in the story where Carl and Marcie are talking about why he has not been married, and Carl tells Marcie that she is not too old for him(Rash 7). Farther on in the story, when Marcie and Carl got together, they did not have the typical fairytale love story meeting. Carl met Marcie because of the preacher giving him some much needed work. He got laid off from his carpentry job. Marcie dated Carl just because she became lonely.
Later, they are at dinner, and Marcie thought that their conversation would get more comfortable. When she tries to talk to him about the fire, Carl is very short with her on words and tries to make the conversation short. He did not like to be around her, so he would sit outside and attend to himself. When they go to bed, they show love to each other, but it is the same thing every day. It is basically a routine for them. One of the examples that they use for their routine would be when Marcie says, “But at night as she readied herself for bed, he’d always come in. They’d lie down
“Burning Bright” is a story about an older woman marrying a man young enough to be her son. Marcie is almost sixty. When her husband Arthur died and the local help fell away, she endured incredible loneliness at the end of a five-mile dirt track until the church recommended a handyman, Carl, who could help out on the farm. This silent man from nowhere marries Marcie, but remains mysterious. In the twenty-first century, seeing an older women and a young man is common. For most people though, the question is if the couple is truly in love. Many older women and men have large sums of money which could be given to their younger spouse if they die.
In Rosh Rash’s “Burning Bright,” Marcie is much older than Carl, and there is a huge disconnect in their relationship because of age. The first question that has to be answered is if Marcie’s marriage with Carl is a believable love story. I think that it is not really a true love story. There is a part in the story where Carl and Marcie are talking about why he has not been married, and Carl tells Marcie that she is not too old for him(Rash 7). Farther on in the story, when Marcie and Carl got together, they did not have the typical fairytale love story meeting. Carl met Marcie because of the preacher giving him some much needed work. He got laid off from his carpentry job. Marcie dated Carl just because she became lonely.
Later, they are at dinner, and Marcie thought that their conversation would get more comfortable. When she tries to talk to him about the fire, Carl is very short with her on words and tries to make the conversation short. He did not like to be around her, so he would sit outside and attend to himself. When they go to bed, they show love to each other, but it is the same thing every day. It is basically a routine for them. One of the examples that they use for their routine would be when Marcie says, “But at night as she readied herself for bed, he’d always come in. They’d lie down