Do you think that Roy and Celestial would have stayed together had Roy never been accused of a crime?

Do you think that Roy and Celestial would have stayed together had Roy never been accused of a crime? How about if he’d been accused of rape but not convicted?

Unlikely because he was a cheater and they were both too ego-centric. Sometimes people say in a relationship there is the one who loves and the one who is loved. In this case, Roy and Celestial would both want to be the one who is loved. I felt like Andre and Davina could be the ones who love, dedicated more to the other person’s happiness rather than their own. Maybe not fair but that is life.

No, Roy was a country boy at heart and Celestial was not comfortable with that aspect of Roy’s character. Eventually, Celestial would have outgrown Roy.

Who can say? Roy was on his way up the ladder of success, as was she. They both had pride in themselves and what they accomplished. Their backgrounds were very different so they would have had some basic differences in beliefs. Roy was a flirt who liked attention from women. I think he would have strayed eventually. However, they would have had the child which may have pulled them closer together. We can only guess at what would have happened.

Roy was a philanderer and obviously always would be. Celestial was too self centered. She needs someone who will hold her hand through life, take care of her like her Dad did. No they would not have stayed together.

I doubt it. They seemed to have some basic differences that would have made living together difficult.

I get the impression that they would have grown apart eventually -- maybe sooner than later. Consider the title, "An American Marriage." You can't help but ask yourself, what is a typical marriage like in the US? We hear about the divorce rate and marriage statistics all the time in the news. According to http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/city/city_index/214133-city-index-marriage-lengths, "While the national length of marriage in the United States is about 8.2 years, New Yorkers actually stick it out longer and average about 12.2 years."

I agree with most of you who have already answered this question. These two people married young, before they seemed to have a solid sense of who they were. She was from a middle class family, with a need for someone to look after her and a drive for creating a career based on her dolls. He was a country boy with a wandering eye and accustomed to roaming. Though they both were college educated, they were from different walks of life and didn't give themselves time to develop before they committed to one another. If he had not been imprisoned, I believe they would eventually have driven one another away.

I think SusieJ hit the nail on the head - they were very young when they married, and consequently were still growing into the people they'd become. That right there is a recipe for a marriage that will take a lot of effort to maintain.

I don't think that Roy and Celestial would have stayed together had Roy never been accused of a crime. They were young and both were too self centered. As you recall, the reason that Roy left the hotel room was because of a disagreement that they had. They weren't willing to compromise which is a very important requirement for marriage.

No I don't believe they would have stayed together. Right from the start of this book I just had this feeling that they didn't belong together.

I think eventually their differences would have driven them apart. They certainly had chemistry together, but in the long run Roy’s flirtations would’ve pushed Celestial past the end of her rope.

Hard to tell because the books sets a stage and drives you down a path to them not staying together. I do think they would have had to work together to maintain their relationship, but maintaining relationships does take 'work' - time, attention, listening, sharing, etc. You can't ignore a relationship in order for it to thrive.

No (see my answer to another question). Both of them had doubts about their relationship before their real crisis set in.

That is very hard to say, to think "what might have been". I'm not certain that they would have made it. They were very different people. AAnd while, for some couples, those differences can strengthen a bond, I'm not sure that was the case with Roy and Celestial. You need a very solid foundation of some common ground in order to overcome such inherent differences. And I'm not sure their foundation was as rock-solid as they'd liked to have believed. Additionally, you'd have to have phenomenal strength of character and mental fortitude to withstand the situation in which they were thrown. Stronger people then the two of them have tried and failed. It's sad, though, because looking back, it's almost as if they were doomed from the start, even though, as a reader, I found myself rooting for them almost the entire novel.

This is such a good question. I lean towards no. There was something off.... They were young... There are too many factors that lead me to believe they would not have stayed together. I think ultimately they were too alike (stubborn) and not enough in love.

It is very hard to tell. We don’t know too much of their marriage at the beginning. It was a very short period of time together before their fate came. They celebrated the 1st year anniversary, which is called traditionally the Year of Paper. Paper symbolizes that as a couple who started their lives together, starting on a ‘clean sheet’. It also represents that paper is easy to destroy and that your relationship has not had the test of time yet. And this is what happened to Roy and Celestial: they did not have enough time to strengthen their marriage. Roy mentions “Yes, we were a married couple, but we were still young and smitten. One year in and the fire was still burning blue hot.” “We were married only a year and some change, but it was a good year. Even she would have to admit that.”
They had their flaws, they had their challenges, their mistakes, like every other young couple. Roy did a couple of things that were unacceptable at the beginning of his marriage. And Celestial forgave him. But I can’t say that it would be the story of their marriage.
And if he’d been accused of rape but not convicted, maybe this situation would have made them grow together as a man, woman and as a couple, support and love each other more, starting from the premise that he is innocent.
So, I’m going to stick with my answer that there wasn’t sufficient time in their marriage for me evaluate and come to a conclusion as to would they have been together if Roy would have never been accused of a crime.

Possibly, but I'm inclined to think that as each became successful in their own professions, it would have driven a wedge between them. And I don't think that either of them had a particularly good understanding of the needs and the wants of the other.