Weekend Ann Beattie

In the short story Weekend, by Ann Beattie the main characters, Lenore and George have a very interesting relationship. As the story develops one begins to wonder why Lenore stays with George despite obvious flaws in their partnership. What makes her stay is very possibly her own insecurities, comfort, and even for him and his insecurities. As the story develops one begins to see watch of these ideas develop. Lenore despite being an intelligent woman, she often is found doubting herself. One begins to become aware of her intelligence by the way Beattie exemplifies her train of thought such as how “Lenore lately has found herself focusing on the imperfection,” (1000) of a scare on the forehead of her eldest child. Beattie gives this information …show more content…
While George and Lenore’s relationship is far from ideal Lenore subconsciously stays with him because he needs her even though he may not know it. Lenore mentions that George “pretends not to care about his looks, but he does,” (999) everything about his demeanor hints to some deep rooted insecurities. From the way he consistently chases after women half his age to him outright asking Lenore, “Am I still the man of your dreams?” (999) Through it all Lenore stays because she is the only one that has picked up on this deep rooted insecurity of his, he’s a man that refuses to accept that he is aging and acts out because of it. She can see that all of these actions are him trying to mask the sadness and possibly self-hatred. This also leads one to think that he puts Lenore down as to make him feel better about himself and also to break down her confidence so she won’t leave him despite all he does. There comes a moment when Lenore realizes exactly why she stays, before she’s hinted to why and has subconsciously known but she brings out these pictures of George. “In all of them he looks very serious and very sad; in some of them his eyes seem to be narrowed in pain. In one, his mouth is open, it is an excellent photograph of a man in agony, a man about to scream.” (1005) these photographs reveal to Lenore and the reader every deep felt emotion that George is feeling beneath the façade he puts on. So while George may not be able to convey in words what he is going through Lenore sees the photos and begins to put things together and she says, “so I stay” (1005) because he is deeply troubled he in actuality possibly needs her more than she needs him. Beattie further exemplifies this point as the weekend comes to a close and Lenore tells him that, “you went too far,” “I’m the only one you can go too far with.” (1006) By adding that to the story it