A Question of Morality
Rosalind has been married to Donald since she was 16 and he was 36. Now she is
25, has three children (ages 10, 6, and 2), and is miserable. She hadn’t thought married
life would be like this. When she first met Donald, he seemed so handsome and daring.
She thought life with him would be much more exciting than her life had been at home
with her parents. Instead, it was an endless routine of housework, babies, afternoon
television, and, when Donald came home in the evening, listening to him talk about his
boring job. This was definitely not the fun-filled life she had imagined.
Rosalind decided to apply for a part-time job as a filing clerk in an office. It
didn’t pay much more than it would cost her for a babysitter while she was working, but
it would at least get her out of the house. When she told Donald about it, he was furious.
“No wife of mine is going to work as a filing clerk,” he yelled. “What’s more, no kids of
mine are going to have a babysitter when they have a mother.” After this argument,
Rosalind gave up the idea of working part-time.
Shortly afterward, Rosalind met Boris. He was mowing the lawn for the next-
door neighbor, and they started talking over the fence each morning. Boris was 18 and
had just graduated from the same high school Rosalind had dropped out of to marry
Donald. Rosalind found Boris to be a very charming young man with an adventurous
spirit, the kind she really used to be interested in back in high school. He told her of his
plans to hitchhike all over Europe. He would be going as soon as he had saved up
enough money for his plane fare by mowing lawns and doing other odd jobs. Rosalind
loved hearing him talk of his future adventures, so she invited him over for coffee one
day when he was through with the lawn. Soon Boris was dropping by regularly, sitting in
the kitchen drinking coffee and talking on and on about his travel plans.
After a few weeks of these visits, Rosalind realized that she was falling in love
with Boris. He was such a beautiful young man, and he was so free! If only she could go
with him when he left for Europe, away from her dull husband and her three constantly
demanding children. The more she dreamed of this, the more real the idea became. One
day when Boris dropped by as usual, Rosalind couldn’t hold back any longer. She
blurted out her love for him and begged him to take her with him when he left.
Boris seemed surprised and overwhelmed at first, but then he began to give the
idea some thought. “Why, we could leave as early as tomorrow, if you want,” he said.
“But I’ve only saved $1000 so far. I figure I’d have to have at least $2000 before I can
go. If you can come up with $3000 (an additional $1000 for me and the $2000 for you),
then it’s a deal.”
Rosalind wanted to kiss Boris right then and there, but the children were playing
nearby so she restrained herself. She smiled happily and said, “It’s a deal then.” She
didn’t know where she would get the money. Donald gave her money every week for
household expenses and occasionally for clothes, but it was not nearly enough money to
run away to Europe. She certainly couldn’t ask Donald for $3000 all of a sudden without
making him suspicious. If he found out what she was planning to do, she didn’t know
what he would do. She would have to find someone else to give her the money.
Then Rosalind thought of Maxine. Maxine was an old girlfriend from high
school. They rarely saw each other anymore, but they had been very close friends back
then. Maxine finished high school after Rosalind dropped out and then got a job as a
salesperson in a big department store downtown. Maxine had been there ever since, and
she also worked in the evening selling cosmetics. A hard-working person, Maxine was.
The last time Rosalind had talked to her, Maxine said that she’d been saving to invest in
real estate. Since she had no house and no children, she probably had a lot of money
saved up by now.
The next morning Rosalind called Maxine at work and told her that she needed to
talk to her about something very important. She wondered if Maxine could come over to
her house during her lunch hour. Rosalind sounded upset, so Maxine said that she would
make arrangements to be there.
When Maxine arrived, Rosalind had fixed soup and sandwiches for the two of
them, and they sat in Rosalind’s big, cozy kitchen chatting about their high school days.
Maxine couldn’t help it, she had always envied Rosalind. Rosalind had been so popular
in high school, dating all of the hottest guys while Maxine sat at home night after night
without a date. Then Rosalind had met this handsome, wealthy older man who had
married her and bought her this nice house in this pleasant neighborhood. Rosalind had
three beautiful children and not a care in the world. She didn’t have to work for a living,
and she didn’t have to worry about the future. More important, she didn’t have to sit at
home alone every night. It just didn’t seem fair. Rosalind had always had life so easy
while Maxine had always had such a hard life.
Then Rosalind told Maxine about Boris. As Rosalind talked about him, her face
glowed with happiness. Rosalind loved Boris, and she wanted to go traveling with him.
She was simply not cut out to be a wife and a mother. She wanted adventure and
romance, and Boris offered her these things. All Rosalind had to do was come up with
$3000. If Maxine would lend her the money, she’d pay it back one day, and she’d be
forever grateful. It would free her from a life of hell.
As Maxine listened, she felt as if she and Rosalind were back in high school
again. How many times in those days had Rosalind come to Maxine for help when she
was having problems with one of her many boyfriends? And how many times had
Maxine, the fool that she was, helped Rosalind out of a jam? She didn’t know why she
always fell for it, for Rosalind sure couldn’t be counted on to return a favor. However,
for some reason, Rosalind had always had some strange power over Maxine, and she was
always able to get Maxine to do what she wanted. Now here she was leaving a perfectly
good man and three lovely children, leaving a life that Maxine would give anything for,
to go off on some ill-fated adventure with a mere boy! How could she even think of
doing such a thing? Rosalind definitely needed to be taught a lesson.
“I’ll give you the money,” said Maxine, “but I’ll have to go to the bank to take it
out of my savings account. I can bring it to you tomorrow during my lunch hour, but on
one condition—I want to meet this Boris. This is a serious step you’re taking, and I want
to be sure that this young man is good enough for you.”
“I’ll tell him to be here at noon tomorrow when you come,” Rosalind said.
As soon as Maxine got back to the store, she went into the office, took out the
phone book, found the number of Donald’s business, and dialed it. One of Donald’s
secretaries answered, and Maxine made an appointment to see Donald at ten the next
morning.
Assignment Directions
At this point in the unfinished story, rank the four characters—Rosalind, Donald, Boris,
and Maxine—from the least moral to the most moral (the ranking is worth three bonus
points added to your points total). Write a paragraph of about each character giving
specific reasons for your ranking. In each of the paragraphs, make sure that you address
the following concepts: What did each person say, do, or think (or NOT say, do, or think)
that led you to make the judgments that you did? Which person can you relate to most,
and which person is most repulsive to you? Which characters remind you of someone you
have known or have heard about in the past? Are any of these characters similar to
characters we’ve read about in class this semester? Each of your four paragraphs should
contain approximately 150 words (each paragraph is worth up to three bonus points
added to your points total).
After ranking the characters and writing your explanations, write your own ending to the
story based upon the concept of poetic justice; in other words, the “bad” characters are
punished while the “good” characters are rewarded. What will Maxine say to Donald, if
anything? Will Donald find out about Rosalind’s plans, and if so, how will he react?
What will ultimately happen to Rosalind and Boris? Your ending to the story should be
approximately 500 words in length (worth up to 10 bonus points added to your points
total).
The format of the assignment should be as follows:
Rank Name
Most moral _____
Second _____
Third _____
Least moral _____
Paragraph 1 about the most moral character
Paragraph 2 about the second most moral character
Paragraph 3 about the third most moral character
Paragraph 4 about the least moral character
The ending you created for the story
In order to receive extra credit for this assignment, you must submit it no later than the
posted deadline.