Love
Anne Tyler delves into the subject of Love through Danny: “That was the spring that Ian’s brother fell in love. Up till then Danny had had his share of girlfriends—various decorative Peggies or Debbies to hang upon his arm—but somehow nothing had come of them. He was always getting dumped, it seemed, or sadly disillusioned. His mother had started fretting that he’d passed the point of no return and would wind up a seedy bachelor type. Now here was Lucy, slender and pretty and dressed in red, standing in the Bedloes’ front hall with her back so straight, her purse held so firmly in both hands, that she seemed even smaller than she was. She seemed childlike, in fact, although Danny described her as a “woman” when he introduced her. “Mom, Dad, Ian, I’d like you to meet the woman who’s changed my life.” Then Danny turned to Mrs. Jordan, who had chosen this inopportune moment to step across the street and borrow the pinking shears. “Mrs. Jordan: Lucy Dean.” Danny’s regular disillusionments are emblematic of the trials which are integral in love. Having a string of girlfriends is not a security of enjoying material and unreserved love. Lucy’s opportune advent in Danny’s life confirms that he is not bound to be a lonesome bachelor. Danny is influenced by his affection for Lucy based on how he avers that she has transformed his life.
Remarriage
Anne Tyler expounds “Lucy did not have lots of children after all; just two. A girl aged six and a boy aged three…He (Danny) said she had mailed that package at the request of her ex-husband. Her ex-husband was getting remarried and he wanted her to send him his things. Lucy had packed up every trace of him: the geisha girl figurine he’d won tossing darts at the fair, for instance, and the bowling ball in the red-and-white canvas bag that matched her own. Danny listed these objects in a detailed and lingering way, as if even they had fallen within the circle of his love. The bowling ball, he said, had accounted for much of the package’s weight (a total of twenty-eight pounds). Lucy had also mentioned a trophy cup, which couldn’t have been so very light either.” Lucy’s futile foremost matrimony does not deter her from falling in love with Danny. Similarly, her husband’s demand to have all his belongings conveyed after their divorce is an indicator of his intent to proceed his life with another woman. Through remarriage, they manage to find closures to their past by refashioning their futures with new spouses. Divorce and children are not prohibiting factors for individuals who are fascinated with remarrying again.
