What do you think of Ruth’s and Elliot’s relationship? Are you surprised they stayed married through their ups and downs? What part does each play in Barbie’s success, and in their family’s dynamics?
I think Ruth and Elliot understood each other. Both were creative in different ways. Ruth was the hard driving business woman, Elliot was the more nurturing and imaginative of the two. Their relationship was a good one - each one recognized the other’s faults and weaknesses and gave strength to the other.
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I agree, I think Ruth and Elliot understood each other and appreciated each other’s abilities. Together they made a great team. I don’t think there would have been a Barbie for a long time, unless you had both of them…they needed each other. Certainly, as a woman, I don’t even know if Ruth would have been hired at her level, without the “seal of her husband.” I know that is not correct, but at that time…yikes!
I also think part of the reason they stayed together was the times. They wanted to keep their jobs and be “respectable” and divorce was not as easily accepted as it is today. If one worked within the toy industry there would be a pressure to be respectable, family oriented, married people.
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pg. 51 - I like Elliot for not wanting to overstep into Ruth and Jack’s difficulty with naming for their new doll. However, the perfect name was obvious to Elliot! I’ve worked with many people like that.
Yes, they were opposites in many ways but I think they respected, relied on and loved each other enough to overcome their differences.
Personally, I prefer Elliott’s personality (stable, calm) vs Ruth’s (impulsive, aggressive). Do you think it’s possible that Ruth’s created a public persona that was different from her private one because as a woman, she had to be tough as nails?
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I think that Ruth and Elliot were a good balance for each other. Ruth was very creative, but volatile and emotional, and Elliot was able to calm the situation, and work towards a peaceful solution. Ruth had certain ideals and dreams, and wanted “Barbie” to be special. Some of Ruth’s marketing ideas were successful. Elliot understood Ruth’s passion.
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I completely agree with Linda Z. There were times in reading the book that I wondered how Ruth and Elliot could stay married, but it was so admirable to me that they could live in the chaos of their business and still love each other enough to keep their marriage going.
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I think that Ruth’s public persona wasn’t that different from her private one. It was Elliot who nurtured the children, smoothed ruffled feathers both at home and work. I think her personality evolved from a hardscrabble childhood and wanting something more for herself and her family than she had. I believe she was just as tough at home as she was in the office although I do agree that as a woman in business in the 40’s through the 1970’s she had to be tough as nails.
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I feel like Ruth could really steamroll over people. I felt she was self-centered and not terribly empathetic to those around her. I’m not sure if she & Elliot married today that they’d have stayed together for life.
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I think they complemented each other and had a great deal of love and admiration for each other. He was her rock–her anchor. And he was happy in that role–he understood her sense of being alone. He knew why she had trouble relating to the kids and did his best to bridge the gap. No not surprised they stayed together.
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In many ways, Ruth’s and Elliot’s roles were reversed from those of the traditional husband and wife, and I think this helped their marriage. Ruth’s personality was more driven, ruthless, and competitive; also less nurturing, and caring when it came to their children. Had they both been like Ruth, their marriage probably woudn’t have survived.
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I think that Ruth and Elliot were very different and they each brought different things to their marriage. I think that they both appreciated each other’s strong points in business.
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Ruth and Elliot had a relationship that was more of a working relationship than a love relationship. Their family worked because of this. I feel they stuck to together because they loved each other and their family.
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