"Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult is about a young boy named Nathaniel whom is molested at the age of five and how his Mother, Nina deals with this conflict. Nina is a prosecutor against child molestation cases and when he own child's mental health is at stake she will do anything possible to help bring the rapist to justice. At one point Nina even points the blame at her husband Caleb but when he is proven not guilty she begs him to forgive her and their marriage happily continues. Nina finally decides that a certain priest is definitely the molester and she shoots him in court. During all of this conflict I noticed another side story.
There is a very conflicting love triangle that has ensued in "Perfect Match". The love triangle is in between the mother named Nina, her husband Caleb and Nina's best childhood friend Patrick. The deal with this triangle is that Caleb is devoted to his wife but knows that Patrick has an undying love for Nina. Nina talks to Patrick for advice but doesn't truly see that he is anything more than a best friend. The whole time while reading the book you truly realize that Patrick is a good guy and Caleb is just....distant.
Patrick has always shown a loyalty towards Nina and refuses to speak to her when she tries to tell him about why she killed the priest. Patrick knows that he must testify in her trial since he was a witness but he doesn't want to put Nina in jail for the rest of her life by telling the truth to the court. Patrick at one point says, "Nina is the only one I'll ever love" when he meets a pretty girl at a bar. He doesn't let the girl get to him and runs to Nina's house to comfort her in a time of need. I think that Patrick is a great guy for her because he is completely devoted to her and will do anything to protect her.
Caleb, on the other hand, seems to love Nina in a very distant way. He always mentions that he knows her completely and that nothing surprises him anymore which is not healthy for a marriage. Caleb always seems to find more comfort in his son than in Nina and doesn't ever try to intrude on Nina's close friendship with Patrick. He doesn't even say anything to protect their marriage which doesn't make any sense at all. This is what I thought of the love triangle in "Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult.
Sasha- i loved your post! i like how you didn't just use the major conflict of the story, but you looked a bit deeper to find something else. I like how you compared the two guys Patrick and Caleb. But do you think that Caleb may be scared of his wife after she accused him and shot the priest? Or maybe he wants to be with his son more because he wants to protect him differently then his wife did?
ReplyDeleteSasha:
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! I love the descriptive language that you used to describe the situations, and how you always connected everything back to your main idea. Great organization! Why do you think Caleb does not try to intrude on Nina and Patrick's relationship? What do you think is stopping him? Also, why do you think Nina is allowing this relationship to continue? How does this affect the relationship of Caleb and Nina? And how does this connect to the rape of Nina and Caleb's son? I would predict that Caleb does not do anything about Nina and Patrick's romance because he is afraid of the consequences, such as divorce or arguments. This certainly does not show a stable marriage, and could be part of the reason that Nina accused Caleb of molesting their son. Are there any different reasons you think she could have accused him?
Hey Sasha,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! I liked how you pointed out that you found this underlying conflict. It really showed me that you are really listening to everything going on in the book. I also liked the way that you explained the relationships between Nina, Patrick, and Caleb. In your paragraph about Patrick I saw that you talked a lot about his loyalty to Nina. I wonder why he is so loyal to her? And I wonder why Caleb is so distant? I wonder if Nina realizes how Patrick is loyal and how Caleb is distant? How does this effect her?
Anyway, great post!
-Georgia P.