Relationships in John Sayles’s Lone Star
The relationships in John Sayles’s Lone Star seemed difficult to maintain. The film takes place during the mid-late 1900s. When it comes to love, most people tend to want a person they can’t have because doing so can cause problems. Most relationships do not come easy, problems can occur at any time. Three relationships expressed in Lone Star are ones that seem problematic due work complications, parents that are forbidding a relationship, and the affair everyone knows about.
One problematic relationship is between army soldier, Cliff, and army officer Pricilla Worth. This relationship has two issues: commitment and interracial. The commitment problem of this relationship has to do with Priscilla, who does not want to get married because she fears that she or Cliff may be transferred to a different post. The couple discuss this problem while at a country and western bar.
Priscilla: Seriously.
Cliff: Seriously? I think we should get married.
Priscilla: We been through this before—
Cliff: We should just do it.
Priscilla: And if I get transferred to a different post? Germany or Korea?
Cliff: I'd quit the Army for you, if it came to that.
Priscilla: (Grins) Man's gonna retire in two years and he offer to quit. Big goddamn deal. (49)
This shows how difficult it can be to have a relationship with someone in the military; whether it is only one person or both people in the relationship. Relationships can be hard, especially, when careers interfere. If Cliff did quit so he could stay with Priscilla, she may regret being the cause of him quitting or he may always hold it over her head by saying, “you should do this for me since I quit my career to be with you.” Another problem with this relationship is that Cliff and Priscilla are an interracial couple. Interracial couples were permitted but not accepted during this time, especially in the South. Even though the nation was desegregated, not everyone approved of blacks...