We all strive to be honest with ourselves. But how many of us would be ready to admit we’ve been “complicit in the traumas inflicted on the people we love”? In “Last of the Darlin’ Boys,” Maureen adores her grandson, shielding him since childhood from the consequences of his mistakes, no matter how grave. She’s beginning to understand the damage she’s done to him and to herself, but can she find the strength to stop protecting him?
We’ve all had times in our lives when “duty collides with yearning,” times when we can’t let go of the outcome we hoped for. In “Beloved,” Maria is prepared to put her newborn up for adoption. She’s ready to deny the feelings she has for the baby, to turn her back on her parents’ old-school values, on the idea of having a family of her own—because if she keeps the child, she cannot keep the man she loves.
