Similarities

Something that troubled me throughout The Price of Salt was the odd relationship between Carol and Therese. It had a really strange authoritative/maternal quality to it for most of the novel. I always felt that Carol would always talked down to Therese almost as if she was an instructor of some sort. I suppose this is why it made their love so unbelievable to me.

On my previous blog post concerning this book I talked about how Therese was continuously ambivalent about certain aspects concerning her life. However, this facet about here did indeed change while on the road. Whatever indecision or ambiguity that surrounded her feelings was quickly dispelled and it became very clear that Therese loved Carol. Why she loved Carol is where my confusion lies. I suppose it is because I see some similarities between Richard and Carol. Richard seemed to be always attempting to force things on Therese, like marriage, Europe, and his family. Therese was consistently resisting too. I understand that her sexuality may have prevented her from loving Richard in the way that he wanted, but she never even seemed to like Richard. His desire to force things on her was probably the reason. So why then was Carol so important to Therese? Carol seemed to do the same thing as Richard. Her authoritative quality was everywhere. She attempted to change Therese’s clothes, her personality, and consistently talked to Therese as if she was a child. In my opinion, Richard treated her better than this, but with Carol Therese followed her like a dog on a leash.

The reason for Therese’s devotion to Carol could simply be that this was her first real relationship. Her previous relationships were all with men whom she never really liked or connected to. After meeting Carol she finally had someone in her life that she could identify with. Even if she was only able to identify with her slightly this was more than what she experienced with any of her previous boyfriends. This could explain why she was able to ignore all of things about Carol that she hated in Richard.