RoseEnglish 1B4/12/05Expectations FulfilledWhen one hears stories about cheating, automatically the first response that the individual will have is that the person who cheated is heartless. Oftentimes people have mistakenly misjudged the person who has cheated on their loved one.
There is always another disclosed side of the story of the deceitful person. For instance, in “The Bridges of Madison County,” Francesca Johnson is a woman who has encountered a non-intimacy life and lacks exoticness in her marriage with Richard. Unintentionally, one day she utterly falls for a stranger name Robert Kincaid. Despite an instant attraction between them, Francesca Johnson let herself be unchaste because Kincaid fulfilled her expectations, provides intimacy, and stimulates romance. In order to keep a relationship alive, one’s expectations must come through. Johnson is a woman who lives in a sheltered life.
She does not do many activities nor do anything appealing. It might seem as though she lives a plain life, but in her heart she has expectations that needs to be fulfilled. “And women were starting to have expectations about their allotted place in the grander scheme of things, as well as what transpired in the bedroom of their lives. Men such as Richard-most men, she guessed-were threatened by these expectations” (108). The fact is true, a woman’s expectations are needed to be acquired or else the woman will go else where to consume it. In other words, Francesca Johnson found everything that she wanted in a man that is disguise in Kincaid.
Therefore, because of Kincaid’s understanding of her, she cannot help it but to fall for him. In addition, intimacy is needed in the relationship in order to have a close bond. Johnson is a woman who loves to be intimate with her husband, Richard. Unfortunately, Richard’s lacking of intimacy has taken a toll on Francesca. In other words, “She was more of a business partner to him than anything else” (80). The emotion that Johnson is feeling is not mutual.
She wants to encounter affection but however, Richard is not aware. Subsequently, “Richard was interested in sex only occasionally, every couple of months, but it was over fast, rudimentary and unmoving, and he didn’t seem to care much about perfume or shaving of any of that” (80). Thus, Richard makes Francesca feel like a loveless person who needs to break free from the life that she has. Nevertheless, the intimacy that she wanted does not lie in Richard but lies in Kincaid. Moreover, any couple would love to experience an ardent emotional attachment. Namely, Johnson who has found romance in Kincaid, the photographer.
Kincaid has a way with words and has a vibe of energy that makes Johnson flutters every time when she is around him. “If you don’t mind my boldness, you look stunning” (110). The compliment from Kincaid just blows Johnson’s heart right out. Furthermore, the situation that she encounters with Kincaid is unlikely to happen with Richard since Richard is nothing but a plain old Jane.
In short, Francesca made the decision to cheat on Richard when she first saw Kincaid. Conversely, her needs of intimacy and eroticism are what she yearns for and she found that in Kincaid. For the longest time, she has finally come out of her shell and experience something extravagant with Kincaid. The experiences that she has consumed in four days have changed her and Kincad’s life forever. Thus, both characters encounters love and passion and it is something that Johnson will only experience with Kincaid.
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