The Pity of It

The second part of the story begins with the marriage and shows the attempt to build a family life together. Two children are born. Conjugal love is here, but so are the stresses and the dissensions, attacking the marriage from within. The third part dramatizes the widening gulf between them as mutual trust and respect crumble into dust The story ends in the divorce court where the beauty dies a couple of miles from where it was born. The novel is structured fairly simply: fifteen chapters with point of view alternating between Danny and Rosa, such that they are equally significant in the development of the story. She is a conscientious, idealistic English teacher, of Italian-American parentage, he is a practical, ambitious English-immigrant accountant. The alternating point of view helps to hold a balance of thought and emotion between them since it facilitates a contrast between their reactions to the same events in their story.

In a sense, Danny and Rosa have gone down the hill from lofty romanticism to cold realism thence to bitter cynicism. Divorce is the last stop on that route. The story portrays a sort of no-fault divorce. They both have the best intentions in the world. They are fine people who dream of perfection. So, with a measure of self-deception, they build up in their respective imaginations the illusion of the perfect mate Yet, as that fragile construct of romantic idealism is subjected to the vagaries of everyday life, it is shattered against the unyielding granite of reality.