RUTH

Character analysis

The effects of man-in-the-moon marigolds
Year: 1969
Place: America, New York, Staten Island
2 storey brick house
Family: Benjamin Hunsdorfur (father), Matthew Hunsdorfur (younger brother), Paulina Hunsdorfur (mother) (deceased)

Ruth Hunsdorfur
18 born 1951, september 30
Medical history: subjected to epilepsy seizures
Shelton High School; senior
Single

Childhood history:
Ruth had childhood which was not as enriching and fulfilling as it should be. With the lack of attention and love given by her father, Ruth has lived her childhood with no one save herself to take comfort in. She does not really know her mother as her mother had died when she was still a child and thus, she was the one who took care of the household and also her younger brother. Despite this, she is not very close to her brother as they do not talk or communicate much and Ruth does not understand her brother and his fascination for science. However, she still loves her brother dearly and would not want anything untoward to happen to him.

Personality:
Ruth is a typically outgoing girl who is popular school and has many friends because of her attractiveness to others; also, she attracts many boys and almost always has a boyfriend. Ruth is quite an independent girl as since her mother died when she was 8, she had to take care of both herself and her younger brother as her father started to drink excessively and became uncaring.

Ruth personality has many layers, on a superficial level, people would stereotype her as shallow because of the fact that she is constantly thinking about boys, does not do well in school and of course, is embarrassed to be known as Matthew’s sister as he is what she calls a “nerd”. However, Ruth is a caring and loving person, although it does not come out that much, her natural affinity for Peter, the pet rabbit shows that she is capable of love and Ruth also longs to have a normal family and shows her love for Matthew in her own way, for example, she is honestly and genuinely happy for Matthew when he won the competition.

As a teenage girl, the neglect from her father has caused her to be very hurt and she retaliates when provoked. This could be the cause of many of their arguments as she feels that her father is not listening to her and she feels rejected and emotionally exhausted trying to talk or get along with her father as she feels that her father does not love her at all and is always finding fault in her. I think that Ruth covers up the hurt that she feels by the façade of “uncaring” that does not really work as she is an emotional person and the outburst of emotions or feelings has caused her to have fits. Her fits started when she was 12 years old, after a particularly bad argument with her father and has been a natural occurrence since then, especially when she is having fights or is feeling too much as a certain point in time. Fortunately, she has not had her fits in school and thus, only Matthew and Benjamin know about.

Ruth does not like to talk about her family life with her friends as she is too embarrassed by her father, whom she has not heard good comments from and is also known as “Benny the loon” and thus, her confidant is actually Peter, where she can be assured that the feelings that she reveals to Peter would not be spread as she can’t talk to Matthew who also does not express his feelings much.

Ruth, even though she does not have a good relationship with her father, wants to please him and make him proud of her but she always fails to do so and she is frustrated. She takes out her frustration on Matthew as he is the one she has most power over, being the older sister but she feels bad after bullying Matthew and tries in her own way to make it up to him, which also turns out to be a failure.

Ruth might seem cruel and malicious but that is her way of not breaking down every time she gets an emotional beating from her father. The reason for her having so many boyfriends is that she feels the need to have that security in knowing that she is not as useless as her father thinks that she is, that she can be successful in an area where others like her brother lack. The emotional security that is present in having a boyfriend could actually replace the lack of love from the part of her family.