Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… with her husband, the high school football coach, in small town Thalia, Texas.
Profession… housewife, which hasn't been very exciting for Ruth. She’s feeling bored and depressed, and her eyes have started to wander.
Relationship Status… in an affair with one of her husband’s star football players. This affair becomes the most important thing in her life, and she becomes reliant on Sonny’s company and listening ear. And in some ways, he seems to enjoy something about her company, whether it’s her emotional depth or pure physical attraction.
Challenge… reviving herself. She hasn't felt alive for a long time now. Her affair with Sonny is undeniably changing her, both inside and out.
Personality… depressed, confused, and drained. Ruth has had a full life of relationship experience and yet she remains unfulfilled. She thinks of herself as nothing. The fact that a young robust boy would be attracted to her changes her self-image. Maybe she’s actually worth something. Maybe she actually deserves to be loved. Just maybe.
Get to Know her in...
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The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.
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“McMurtry is an alchemist who converts the basest materials to gold.” — New York Times Book Review The Last Picture Show (1966) is both a rambunctious coming-of-age story and an elegy to a forlorn Texas town trying to keep its one movie house alive. Adapted into the Oscar-winning film, this masterpiece immortalizes the lives of the hardscrabble residents who are threatened by the inexorable forces of the modern world.
