MovieChat Forums > The Winds of War (1983) Discussion > Why not Palmer?

Why not Palmer?

posted 12 years ago by tfilm78
7 replies | jump to latest

I understand (I think) that Wouk wanted Pug and Rhoda's marriage to be a casualty of the war, especially after Warren is killed.

But Pug manages to find someone new with Pamela. Rhoda, who seemed heavily involved with Palmer Kirby, breaks up with him and then finds another man to have a fling with. He shows up without much back story and Rhoda marries him, while Palmer, who had been a major character up until this point, just disappears except for one or two brief appearances. Why couldn't she end up with him?

[–] nyctc7 12 years ago

I've watched the series several times and can't 100% figure this one out. She ends up with Hack Peters in War and Remembrance.

I guess she just got cold feet with Palmer. IIRC she gets a letter from Pug and there was something about it that made her want to end the affair with Palmer.

Maybe it is for the best because I think in the end he was too nice, too laid back a guy for her.

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[–] tfilm78 12 years ago

That's the worst thing about him: in the end she either isn't happy with him, or is depressed that he's found out about her earlier fling with Palmer.

[–] BertramWilberforceWooster 12 years ago

In the book, she realizes that Palmer would be another version of Pug so she calls it off. When Hack starts to court her, she is thrilled by the idea of being thought so innocent. When he starts getting the Poison Pen letters, the wheels have been set in motion for the divorce so it's too late for any of those involved to back out.

--
Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
http://athinkersblog.com/

[–] tfilm78 12 years ago

But as I recall, Pug had at that point struck out with Pamela.

Where did it say she saw Palmer as another Pug? As I recall she finally broke it off with him soon after Warren died.

And while we're on the subject, why is it never explained who wrote the letters?

[–] BertramWilberforceWooster 12 years ago

From the novel War and Remembrance:

Forbidden fruit has its brown spots, but these are not glow of appetite; one has to bite and taste the unpleasant mush. Her civilian lover had turned out not so very different from her military husband. He had less excuse for neglecting her, yet like Pug he had shut her out and absented himself for weeks at at time. Answering her fatal divorce divorce letter, Pug had warned her that Fred Kirby was too much like himself for the thing to work. Wise old Pug! In fact, Palmer rather despised her. She knew this, though only with Warren's death had she squarely faced it. If she forced the issue he might marry her, but it would be a mere entrapment. When all was said and done, she had been a fortyish fool.

--
Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
http://athinkersblog.com/

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] TorontoJediMaster 11 years ago

In the novel, it also says that Pug and Rhoda's marriage really wasn't ideal at the start of the narrative (in March of 1939). Rhoda was discontented with being a Navy wife and tended to crab about things. Pug had fallen into the habit of responding to that with silence.

I got the impression that if the war hadn't happened, they would've stayed together. It was world events that caused them to meet Palmer Kirby -who was the trigger that exposed their fault lines- and Pamela Tudsbury (who showed Pug how unhappy his marriage was).