the sexes

I am fascinated by the idea of happy endings. I'm not sure I believe in them; long before Gregory Maguire came along, I had my doubts everything in Cinderella's or Snow White's worlds were perfect and settled post-The End.

Alison Pick's The Sweet Edge, at first, explores a young couple's relationship over a summer split up. He is in the Northwest Territories, she is in Toronto. The geography of their division is more than a titch symbolic; it plays on her insecurities. It makes you wonder if two people so different can ever find a place in their heads to meet in the middle.

I love this play between the main characters, Ellen and Adam:

In January, Ellen says she wants to go to the ballet.
What's playing?
She can't remember.
You just like the idea of the ballet, he says.
I like the ballet and I like the idea of it.
You mean you like the idea of yourself liking it.
Everyone likes the idea of themselves, she says. We all invest in our own self-image.
Adam doesn't say anything but they both know what he is thinking. He believes fiercely in something more organic than self-image, in something more cloaked and interior. (p.27-28)

*source of picture