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Tone
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Ruth's Secrets:
In Chapter 6, Charlie witnesses a fight between his parents. The fight foreshadows Ruth's affair and eventual departure from Corrigan, but it also hints that Charlie might be an unreliable narrator at times because he is so young:
Toward the end, she was hysterical, my mother. Out of control. She began blaming Corrigan for everything. It was harming her family. It wasn’t safe anymore. She said we needed to get out, start somewhere else. Then it clicked for me. I knew what she was doing.
And maybe my father did too. Finally, he pushed off the doorway and stood straight. He was so calm.
“Ruth, there are things in this world that you don’t think I know, but I do. For now, I think it’s time you went to bed. You too, Charlie.
Charlie and Wesley each seem to understand something about Ruth in this moment, but no one says it aloud. Charlie knows that his mother has long resented his father for the life they have ended up with in Corrigan. The two of them met when they were in college. An unplanned pregnancy (with Charlie) led to a hasty marriage and the abandonment of their former career ambitions. Charlie believes that Ruth is primarily angry that Wesley does not make enough money for them to have the same level of disposable income she was used to in her family of origin. The university setting leveled class differences enough for her to become interested in a less wealthy man, but he is ultimately not rich enough to satisfy her. Charlie hears Ruth talking about how dangerous Corrigan has become, and he concludes that she is using Laura's death as an excuse to return to her rich family in the city.
Wesley also suspects that Ruth is up to something. Charlie hopes his father sees through his mother just like he does. However, Wesley's vague statement to Ruth that "there are things in this world that you don't think I know, but I do" seems deliberately designed to mean something to her while remaining obscure to their son. Wesley tells Charlie that he shouldn't have had to hear the argument, suggesting that he doesn't want or expect Charlie to know everything about the world yet at age 13. Wesley is almost definitely telling Ruth that he knows about her affair. He also might be telling her that he understands why she might cheat, even if it hurts him. Unlike Wesley, Ruth never finished her college degree when Charlie came along. She tried to devote herself to motherhood instead of her planned career, but she felt enormous grief when her second baby died. Whereas Wesley has been able to throw himself into writing to recover from the grief, Ruth has no escape. The affair is her way of reinventing herself and her life at a time when it has become painful to be herself.
As Charlie tells it, his mother runs off at the end of the novel to be "spoiled" by her rich family. This one-dimensional portrait even of a woman who hurts him suggests that Charlie still has more to learn about people and their complexities.
Related Themes:
