In two of the final paragraphs of "The Return of the Soldier," Jenny and Margaret both grapple with the moral dilemma of whether whether or not they should "cure" Chris. Although the women, by examining Oliver's toys in the nursery, convince each other that it is right not to force Chris to accept the truth, they both know that ultimately, the Destiny, society and duty will prevail over happiness and love. they must tell him the truth. Although Margaret decides to "cure" Chris because she believes she is doing the right thing for him, Jenny decides that he must be cured because she realizes that her love for Chris will fade over time with his youth and his masculinity; However, accepting reality and conforming to society will never go out of style. Margaret wants to heal Chris for her own good, while Jenny wants to do it for her own good. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay Although it is Margaret alone who takes her son's ball and jersey to Chris and "heals" him, she and Jenny decide simultaneously that this is what needs to be done, and they are both involved in the decision. Margaret does not act without mutual, albeit tacit, consent. In the silence after Kitty leaves the nursery, Jenny and Margaret come to the conclusion that they should cure Chris, but for different reasons. The paragraph after Kitty leaves describes Jenny considering the morality of healing Chris, and her ideas are not only central to her final decision, but also to the message of the entire novel. Although Margaret's reasoning is simply stated, her conclusion also mimics the central idea of ​​the book. In the paragraphs preceding Kitty's entrance, Jenny and Margaret both recognize that society is at odds with their desire to "let [Chris] be" (86). Margaret thinks aloud that "nothing in the world is as important as happiness", arguing that her duty to Chris is to make him happy, because that is all he has (86). Margaret has "lived a hard life", meaning she has lived in the dreary, "hostile and reasonable" world of reality, and she knows that all it contains are false rules made by a false society determined to eradicate love and happiness and holding its members prisoners of convenience and duty (86). She knows that what awaits Chris on the other side of the truth is Kitty, a woman “in tune with all kinds of falsity” who symbolizes the falsity of society and reality (87). Chris, if cured, will be forced to return to a world that cares neither for true love nor kindness, but only for men and soldiers. Margaret believes that "to go out and end poor love's happiness" would be to take away the only true thing Chris has, love and happiness, and replace it with "the falsest thing on earth" (86, 87 ). Although she believes in Chris's right to happiness, Margaret feels the terrible pressure from society to cure Chris, even before Kitty enters the room. When Margaret attempts to justify her refusal to cure him, Jenny observes that “there was a shade of doubt in his voice; she begged not me but fate” (86). After Kitty leaves the nursery, Margaret changes her mind and decides it is right to make Chris accept the truth. Her reasoning for this change, however, can only be deduced from the few words she says to Jenny after Kitty leaves. At this point, they both change their minds, and Jenny attributes their change in attitude to Kitty "reminding [them] of reality"(87). However, Kitty's effect on Margaret is not quite what Jenny assumes. Margaret does not change her mind because she remembers her duty to society and the need to face reality, but because she remembers her duty to Chris, and her duty to society. We know this to be the case because of Margaret's words and her past behavior towards Chris, as well as Jenny's observations about him. When Margaret says, "I've lived a hard life," we are reminded that she experienced the reality and meager rewards that a person receives for doing what she should in society, and that society has been harsh on her (86). . The reader is left with the impression that Margaret has nothing to gain from conforming to society and is no longer interested in doing what is considered "right"; this is confirmed when Margaret says: "I wasn't sure if I should come a second time, seeing as we were both married", then "I came back", if the effect means "despite what I should" . (86).One thing, however, is certain: Margaret feels responsible to Chris because of their true and honest love. She believes that Chris, if he weren't in shock, would fulfill his duty to society, as he clearly has throughout his life - including marrying Kitty and going to war. Margaret cannot live with the injustice of stopping him from doing something he would have done if he had had all his faculties. Jenny observes Margaret's change of heart when she says, "the rebellion was gone from her eyes and they were again the seat of all sweet wisdom", meaning that the rebellion, Margaret's conviction of the rightness of the love in the face of society's opposing attitude, gives way to the "wisdom" that if she loves Chris, she must let him conform to the "strange order of the earth", even if it is empty and false (86). When Jenny changes her mind, it's really because Kitty reminds her of reality. Unlike Margaret, Jenny has more reasons to live than love. Acceptance by society is very important to her, and she realizes that not curing Chris will cost her that acceptance, so she must choose between them. If Jenny chooses not to cure Chris, he will be able to “live in the endless enjoyment of his youth and his love,” and Jenny, in her “frantic love” for Chris and her relationship with Margaret, can be part of that. of it (86, 87). However, when she sees Kitty wandering in sorrow and finds herself hating "that strange, ugly woman moving among her things", it reminds Jenny that society hates to see a strange, rebellious person "moving around" in its ordered system; she anticipates society's reaction to Chris once he becomes old and senile. For even if at present Chris's "youth and love" inspire "the eyes [to] follow him... tenderly as he [goes]", and there is a "gallantry physical in him", it will not last, and this is when these charms fade with age, when his "smiling mouth [is] slack with age" and "his illusion turns into senile idiocy" that society's disapproval will begin to fall on Jenny (86-89). She realizes that she will have to look around "defensively to see that no one... notices the doddering old man", and she summarizes her fears of others' disapproval when she realizes the change that will ultimately by happening, transforming him from the person he is now to the old man he will be in the future: the game wardens chatted kindly with him and patted his forehead as he walked through the grove, the callers showed tact and brandished sharp words in front of him. The one who.