Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

In the book, “In the Heart of the Valley of Love,” two relationships can be compared to that of Jewel and Teddy: Lily’s parents and Nadine and Geoffrey. Jewel is Francie’s friend who also works at the campus newspaper as the managing editor and Teddy is her boyfriend. Lily was Francie’s friend growing up in Chicago, whose father used to beat her mother until she left him. Nadine is Francie’s cousin and her boyfriend was Geoffrey.
It is known to Francie as well as others that Teddy had beaten Jewel in the past yet she still bailed him out of jail because she felt that she owed him. As she said, “sometimes he’s lent me money when I really needed it, and whenever I’ve been desperately unhappy he’s put aside what he was doing to be with me” (68). Despite the fact that he beat her, she still felt that she loved him. When talking about the situation of Lily’s parents, Francie talked about how she and Lily used to try and please Lily’s father after he beat her mother. They would clean the kitchen, hoping for some acknowledgment from Lily’s abusive father. She compared that to Jewel bailing out Teddy. Jewel tried to please Teddy, hoping for some recognition.
Later, after getting her tattoo, Francie, Mark, and Carl had a talk with Jewel because she was upset. Jewel suspected that Teddy was cheating on her with another woman. Mark was appalled because he felt that she was wrongfully troubled because he was hurting someone else rather than her. As they have the talk, Francie again remembers Lily and her parents. In her head, Francie said “I didn’t know what kind of world this was, where a violent man’s infidelity might hurt a woman more than his beatings” (133). Her thought reigns true for the situation that Jewel was in. She was sad that he beat her but even more sad that he was with another woman.
The way Francie saw the relationship between her cousin Nadine and her boyfriend, Geoffrey, was similar to Jewel and Teddy’s relationship. Nadine lived with Francie in Chicago when Francie was 11 and Nadine was 17. She was going out with Geoffrey, a boy three years older. One night, they were arguing and Francie wondered. She said, “Maybe they were falling out of love but didn’t want to. Maybe they were falling more in love and couldn’t handle it” (155). That can be compared to Jewel and Teddy. They said that they were in love with each other, but they didn’t act like it. Jewel said she stayed with Teddy because he had a mansion in his head and he said he liked the fact that it was a challenge to control her. It cannot be fully known whether they truly do love each other.

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