9 Chickweed Lane

[neadods]

And so the storyline, which has gone on for months longer than I originally thought it could be spun out, draws to a close with an ending a lot of people predicted.

After months of rushing to my computer first thing to see the new installment, I feel flat on two levels. Some because it's over... but mostly because yes, according to character dialog throughout, Edda gave up the love of her life to marry out of a sense of duty a man she would ultimately not get along with very well.

And in the meantime, the one man who acted honorably and fairly honestly throughout, who never asked great sacrifice of her or lied to her directly or indirectly, who did his best to let her be her best self rather than see her only in terms of what she was to *him* misses out on the promised life with her *and* apparently any knowledge of his own child. If he's as devoted as Edda remembers, quite likely his only child.

I'm pretty pissed at Edda and Bill right now.

I do wonder if this is the end, though. Considering that the storyline has run since November of last year, I'm wondering if phase 3 is going to be a trip to Vienna.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I have to point out that the ending is perfectly in tune with the period of the story. Edda would have been under incredible social and familial pressure to marry the American soldier -- to whom she had, after all, been formally engaged beforehand -- rather than throw him over for "some Kraut". Remember that a lot of German-descended American citizens actually suffered enough ostracism during this period to legally change their names! And no matter how brave and non-traditional Edda might have been, I can see how she might have quailed at the idea of cutting herself off completely from her family and her former life. That, plus the fact that she still loved Bill, could very easily have produced this result.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

the ending is perfectly in tune with the period of the story

I know, although if that was going to be a big problem in Edda's life, surely she wouldn't have blithely made almost instant plans to move to Vienna. There doesn't seem to be any parents or siblings here having an opinion on the subject - does Edda have a family? Did she ever tell anyone aside from the people she worked with that Bill even proposed?

Now that we know she's pregnant, she's going to be under more pressure to marry, and quickly, though.