I actually don't agree that Bob and Caroline's marriage was a success... although I do agree there was a partnership (I love him arresting her for speeding... how many times must Fraser have wanted to arrest either Ray for the same thing!)
Benny's memories, though obviously tainted, include the fact that they only saw his father once every sixteen weeks,and "some of those times you slept out with the dogs." If I only saw my husband once every four months, and some of those times literally sent him to sleep in the dog house, I would probably not have the happiest of marriages!
Benny won't remember the good times of his parents' marriage, but he does remember the bad times quite clearly, and it seems there were enough of them that it made a profound impact on him, even within the space of six short years. "You weren't around long enough to call her by name..." I think abandonment is a profound issue in the stories dS tells about relationships. Lovers abandon each other, for any number of reasons. As you say, Ray and Stella are lucky, they don't have to shoot each other to realise that it's over.
Actually, the only succesful relationship you see is that of Ray Kowalski's parents. Ma Vecchio had a drunken abuser for a husband, Fraser's parents were absent or sleeping in the dog house (and how on earth did Bob burn the cabin down? There's a story in that!) Even minor characters like Welsh have a failed relationship going on behind the scenes... early on we know he's married and his wife makes his sandwiches (They Eat Horses, Don't They?) We see him, presumably with her, briefly in North. Then he's making his own sandwiches (and Ray's trying to scrounge cold cuts) and then he's telling his brother that the apartment he's living in isn't much bigger than a trailer.
Of course there is Frannie with her fairy tale dreams that are doomed to failure. There's Elaine, consciously critiquing her crush on Fraser...
Any love story is, in due South, "A Likely Story", to quote an episode which deliberately examines story telling (ghost and 'romance' fiction versions of the princess myth.) As Ray says, "That's some dark story Fraser..."
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2012-04-01 12:40 am (UTC)Benny's memories, though obviously tainted, include the fact that they only saw his father once every sixteen weeks,and "some of those times you slept out with the dogs." If I only saw my husband once every four months, and some of those times literally sent him to sleep in the dog house, I would probably not have the happiest of marriages!
Benny won't remember the good times of his parents' marriage, but he does remember the bad times quite clearly, and it seems there were enough of them that it made a profound impact on him, even within the space of six short years. "You weren't around long enough to call her by name..." I think abandonment is a profound issue in the stories dS tells about relationships. Lovers abandon each other, for any number of reasons. As you say, Ray and Stella are lucky, they don't have to shoot each other to realise that it's over.
Actually, the only succesful relationship you see is that of Ray Kowalski's parents. Ma Vecchio had a drunken abuser for a husband, Fraser's parents were absent or sleeping in the dog house (and how on earth did Bob burn the cabin down? There's a story in that!) Even minor characters like Welsh have a failed relationship going on behind the scenes... early on we know he's married and his wife makes his sandwiches (They Eat Horses, Don't They?) We see him, presumably with her, briefly in North. Then he's making his own sandwiches (and Ray's trying to scrounge cold cuts) and then he's telling his brother that the apartment he's living in isn't much bigger than a trailer.
Of course there is Frannie with her fairy tale dreams that are doomed to failure. There's Elaine, consciously critiquing her crush on Fraser...
Any love story is, in due South, "A Likely Story", to quote an episode which deliberately examines story telling (ghost and 'romance' fiction versions of the princess myth.) As Ray says, "That's some dark story Fraser..."