Assignment 2 - She was dressed in her work clothes...

This is what I submitted as Assignment 2. It is a short story about Infidelity, followed by the rationale. Let me know what you think :)


She was dressed in her work clothes. Tight, black pencil skirt skimming her knees and a fitted white shirt that clung to her curves. Her dark hair was pinned neatly to the back of her head, with a few strands softly framing her face, and she was wearing black, knee, high leather boots. ‘My beautiful Scarlett’, Nicholas thought as he watched her walk towards him. She was smiling.

“Sorry I’m late” she said “I had problems finding a babysitter, and John is out of the country again.”

Scarlett had known John would be travelling a lot, but she thought she would be able to cope. After the first few years she soon realised she needed more of an emotional commitment. But she felt she couldn’t leave him; because of their children. Danielle, now 7 and Michael, soon to be 5.

With Nicholas it was different. He made her feel alive. And her marriage to John was nothing more than a formality. It had started out as just friendship, someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on. But when they realised there was mutual attraction, things became dangerous. Scarlett had never received that kind of attention from her husband. At least not after they had married. They started meeting more frequently and more secretively. One thing lead to another and it soon became a passionate affair. Scarlett was still unsure if John was really Michael’s father.

She had been up front about her marriage and children from the start and Nicholas was accepting and understanding of this. Scarlet knew that as Danielle and Michael got older, it would be harder for her to hide her secret life, but she would cross that path when it came to it.

Nicholas kissed her on the cheek and took her hand. “Come on”, he smiled, “let’s get out of here.”

Rationale

The debates that I have considered about Infidelity include whether or not it is the right path to take and why people choose to be unfaithful. In Scarlett’s case, Infidelity allows her to feed the emotional needs which are not satisfied by her husband and therefore she is able to ‘keep up appearances’ for the sake of her children. Scarlett feels that this is the right path for her, unlike Laura Jesson, in Brief Encounter (1945), who chooses, in the end, to stay faithful to her husband.
At the start of the piece you know nothing of the situation. You are introduced to a woman who, from her description, sounds like a harlot, the choice of name ‘Scarlett’ re-enforces this (i.e. a scarlet woman), but it becomes apparent that she is actually a conscientious mother. I think the piece would fit into a romance or thriller genre. This is because two of the main aspects of infidelity are romance, obviously, but also suspense; the ‘with the will I/won’t I get caught’. This is shown through the affection seen between the characters, Scarlett’s smiling and Nicholas’s kisses and the fact that Scarlett worries about her children becoming aware of her affair.

My piece is intended to challenge people’s perceptions of marriage and relationships and to make them reflect on theses and the fact that in some cases infidelity can be the better option. Scarlett is able to keep going in the absence of her husband because of her affair, for her children’s sake. In her situation it is obviously the better option because she can be happy, still has financial stability and is not putting her children, herself, or husband through the stress of a divorce.

I think that I was quite successful in addressing some of the issues in infidelity and making people think twice about dismissing infidelity as a bad thing. However, the story could be developed further to give a better understanding of the characters history and situations, especially Nicholas, and draw more upon the upsides infidelity.