Beth is conflicted because she loves both Gabriel and Frank (p. 132). Do you think she does, in fact, love each of them equally? Is it possible to love two people at the same time?
I believe she does love both of them. Gabriel was her first love, her true love. Frank was the man who rescued her. She and Frank had a good life. She was content being his wife but then Gabriel returned. I do think it is possible to love two me, each one for a different reason.
Yes, I think she loved both men, in different ways. Frank was steady, serious, and the two of them honestly loved each other. Gabriel was the man she loved as a young woman, one who she never really got over, and so she took the chance to love him again.
Yes I think she loves them both equally but for different reasons. She connected with Gabriel and he was her first love. Frank rescued her and he was a solid rock for her. Different emotions in her love for each of them.
I do not believe it is possible to love Frank & Gabriel equally. Beth built a life with Frank that as a simple life of the hardworking farmer. Gabriel represented Beth’s youthful fantasy filled with unsustainable passion. The excitement of sneaking around. Their whole relationship was based on furtive meetings. Not to mention, money, power, forbidden fruit & standing are aphrodisiacs.
Yes, it’s possible to love two people at the same time. It’s not a question of loving them equally, but a question of loving them differently. She fell in love with Gabriel when she was a teenager. It was a love of passion, but also a love of mutual interests that never had the chance to grow. When Beth and Gabriel meet again as adults the feelings are still there, but life’s twists and turns made the relationship complicated and dangerous. Her love of Frank grew over the years, despite the tragedies, with the help of his long and deep love for her, his acceptance, and his selflessness.
I do believe that Beth does love both Gabriel and Frank but not the same and not equally. Her love for Gabriel was based on a teenage crush, her first sexual encounter, teenage pregnancy, and a rejection. Beth had never fully reconciled any of that so when Gabriel came back into her life she had those same teenage feelings plus the loss of her beloved child. Frank on the other hand was almost like a father figure for her, steady and safe.
I do think she loved both of them. Gabriel represented not just her first love, but her dream life. Everything she had ever wanted for herself, she saw in him. Frank (how could you not love him!) was there for her and their family day in and day out. He had given her stability and love. One certainly, seemed more exciting than the other and I think in weakness and with unsettled issues from her past, she turned to a waiting Gabriel.
I don’t know about loving them equally. I am not sure we love the same people in our lives equally from week to week or day to day even. It is always waxing and waning even though we love them.
Yes, she loved both Gabriel and Frank but in different ways. Gabriel was visceral, a soul mate type of attraction that was undeniable. Beth’s heart and mind just lead her there. Frank was a friend that grew into a kindred spirit of trust and support and eventually love. Equal? Maybe eventually, but no not at first, because they were such different kinds of people and so the love grew differently.
I think Beth does truly love both men but in very different ways. She was young when she had her first relationship with Gabriel and it was her first love. Her love for Frank was more mature. It stemmed from a very different time.
Different types of love. Her love for Gabriel is the romance of first love memories. Other than nostalgia and the thrill of clandestine meeting and physical attraction, what else did she have with Gabriel in middle-age? If there had not been the final shooting tragedy, would Beth and Gabriel have continued their relationship?
No, I don’t think that she loves them equally. She loved Gabriel before she met Frank and I believe she loves Frank because they have been together longer and built a life and a family together. When Gabriel came back those feelings she had for him came up, but I think her feelings for Frank
were stronger.
Beth loved Frank for a different reason but couldn’t contain her emotions for Gabriel. She did love them both in different ways.
There’s something about a first love that stays with you!!! In spite of the red flags, Gabriel is passion, excitement and what is unattainable. Frank is stability. And if
their family of three had remained intact, there wouldn’t have been the inevitable blame and guilt which is hard for both Beth and Frank to deal with.
She did love them both, but in much different ways. Gabriel was a youthful love filled with first time experiences such as hidden meetings, first sexual encounters, and youthful longing for an unknown life. As for Frank, he was her rescuer, he gave her life a stability when it was being torn into pieces. He taught her to enjoy the simpler things and gave her a sense of security.
Yes, I do believe that you can love two people at the same time, and I believe that Beth loved both Gabriel and Frank. Not exactly equally. Each man is strong in their own way. Frank is steady, loyal, comes mostly from country roots, with little needs except for what he already has. Gabriel is more worldly, traveled, knowledgable. I believe they both need Beth in different ways as well. Frank treats Beth as an equal partner. Gabriel needs to see her, but as a help to him for his son. I think Frank has roots and Gabriel is more of a lost wandering soul.