Marriage

Despite the fact that the protagonist and Christopher never actually interact in the main narrative, and they were clearly headed for divorce, the novel demonstrates a strong and intrinsic respect and value of marriage.

The novel does not give much information regarding what originally drew the protagonist and Christopher together, let alone what convinced them that they wished to marry each other. In fact, the novel gives more information as to what the protagonist found as repellent in Christopher before their romantic relationship began. However, both the protagonist and the overall narrative place a profound value on the concept of marriage, even one in which the husband has been faithless, the spouses are separated, and the wife is ready to ask for a divorce. The protagonist does not view herself as being entirely free from the marriage before asking for a divorce. As she says, “I...