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Imagining the Tom and Sally Relationship
Before reading Chase-Riboud's novel, it might be profitable to practice the kind of thinking she had to do before writing the novel and as she wrote it. Draw on relationships you are in, have been in, or know about, and outline the contours of the Tom and Sally relationship as you see them. Sketch their history "as a couple."
You probably already have plenty of visual images of the public Jefferson, but what was he like "around the house"? What did Sally look like, and how did she sound? When did they first meet? What was their first significant contact? Was there an "electric" moment they looked back on in later years? What were they both thinking about each other in the beginning? Frankly, what had an uneducated teen girl to offer a highly educated middle-aged man? Conversely, what would that teen girl "see" in the middle-aged man? Were there stages in their relationship? Was there "courtship," social foreplay? Did Sally have other "suitors"? Did Jefferson have competition? How and when did they first make love? What did they call each other in public, in private? Did they have pet names, nicknames for each other? Once lovers, what were the dynamics of their relationship? How did they handle what all lovers have to handle? For instance, how did they argue? How did they negotiate? How did they resolve problems between them? How did they deal with problems that came from outside that related to them? Did, in fact, they use the "L" word? Did they say they loved each other? Did they talk about commitment, permanence? How did they describe or feel about their relationship? -- how would they label it? -- a kind of marriage? Was fidelity expected? Was there jealousy? How did they handle the fact or the suspicion of infidelity? Did they talk about having children? Did they want children? How did they handle the death of their children? Who made decisions about educating the children? Who disciplined them? Were they ever together with the children as a family? There relationship would last decades -- how did they maintain the "spark"? -- or did they? Jefferson was away for long periods of time -- did they think about each other in the interim? Did they communicate with each other in the interim? What were the expectations regarding each other's behavior in the interim? Did they talk of manumission, of emancipation? Did they talk of "the future"? What kind of life did they want for their children? How did they handle the departure of their children? How did they see themselves growing old together? How did they handle the reality of Jefferson's approaching death? What were their sick-bed conversations about? How did she handle his death? What were her feelings? How did she assess her life with him? What would she do now with her life? Would she want another man in her life?
All fascinating questions. And playing with them and others you will think of will not only give you a good sense of what it's like to write a novel, but, more importantly, it will also help define your thinking about the controversy at this specific stage. This whole project is about recognizing that history is constructed. So, what kind of history are you constructing at this moment?
Now go to Chase-Riboud's novel with your "novel" in mind and compare your imaginings. What's the same and what's different -- and what do you make of what you find?
