Ira Reiss, a sociologist who studied the different ways that the society affects our sexual behaviors and attitudes, came up with a theory of his own, the Wheel Theory. His theory claims that love develops in stages, four to be exact; rapport, self-revelation, mutual dependency, and personality need fulfillment. In Kent Haruf’s book, Our Souls at Night, the two individuals, Louis and Addie, start off as distant acquaintances living on the same block, and later became late-aged sweethearts. If one knows of Reiss’ theory while reading this story, he or she can see how the process of falling in love occurred with the couple in Holt County, Colorado.
The first stage to love according to Reiss is “rapport”. Rapport is a close, harmonious-like relationship …show more content…
This interdependence is when the two individuals become more and more dependent on one another to provide things such as happiness, relief, and an ordinary sense of belonging. In the story, Addie and Louis have both made similar statements that they are very glad they are spending the nights together. In fact, they had decided that they would go out in public together and let people think what they want to think; to them, it really didn’t mater, they enjoyed each other, enjoyed the friendship of it all, and felt no sense of shame whatsoever. Another important event that occurred during this portion of the story was that while Addie’s son, Gene, had to figure out some issues he had with his business and wife, he dropped his son, Jamie, off to stay at Grandma’s house for the summer. Right away, Louis took Jamie under his wing, teaching him how to garden, teaching him how to catch a ball, teaching him about baby mice found in his shed, and even bought him a dog. If Jamie ever woke up crying, they would plop him up in bed right in between them and some nights, Louis would even sing to him; Addie and Louis really were like a married couple in the sense that a married couple is supposed to work together as a team and be dependent on one
The first stage to love according to Reiss is “rapport”. Rapport is a close, harmonious-like relationship …show more content…
This interdependence is when the two individuals become more and more dependent on one another to provide things such as happiness, relief, and an ordinary sense of belonging. In the story, Addie and Louis have both made similar statements that they are very glad they are spending the nights together. In fact, they had decided that they would go out in public together and let people think what they want to think; to them, it really didn’t mater, they enjoyed each other, enjoyed the friendship of it all, and felt no sense of shame whatsoever. Another important event that occurred during this portion of the story was that while Addie’s son, Gene, had to figure out some issues he had with his business and wife, he dropped his son, Jamie, off to stay at Grandma’s house for the summer. Right away, Louis took Jamie under his wing, teaching him how to garden, teaching him how to catch a ball, teaching him about baby mice found in his shed, and even bought him a dog. If Jamie ever woke up crying, they would plop him up in bed right in between them and some nights, Louis would even sing to him; Addie and Louis really were like a married couple in the sense that a married couple is supposed to work together as a team and be dependent on one