Lost hopes
People are tend to build metaphorical sand castles and then destroy them by themselves. We don’t know what we want exactly until we lose it, sad but true. Edward fount it out when he was 60 and still thought about Florence and how stupid he was to lose her. They dreamed they will be happy together, but each of them understood happiness in their own way. It was a mixture of sex and feelings for Edward but it was just platonic innocent love for Florence. They couldn’t understand each other needs, they were different and alien, and that is why all their dreams shattered into small pieces.
Love
Was there love or attachment between these two? Did they love each other? Did they know what the love is? The narrator gives the opportunity to think these questions over for the reader. Florence says she loves Edward, but she doesn’t want to have sex with him, Edward says that he loves Florence but he only wants to have sex with her (he couldn’t stay this temptation anymore so he proposed in one of the moments of closeness). And, if it was true love, then Florence should have pleasured her husband and Edward shouldn’t have pressured on her (a bit of catch 22 situation, isn’t it?). love is a complicated thing, it is a constant compromise, but on the other hand one shouldn’t lose ones individuality while giving up ones positions.
Sexual education
This theme is highlighted through the prism of the epoch, when the events take place. 1962, Britain, sexual relationship before the marriage are considered as something dirty and unacceptable, and young people find out what the sex is from special guidebooks with pictures (for visualization, nice option!). but these guidebooks disfigure the concept of sex, considering it as a duty, not quite pleasant but obligatory: “Not long before he enters her . . .” Or “Now at last he enters her.” And “Happily, soon after he has entered her . . .”. this literature is not for nervous, definitely, it doesn’t helps, it just makes the things worse, as we can observe in a case with Florence and Edward. In times where marriage was the only way to become mature member of society, young people hardly knew what it is and how it looks like and they were just thrown into this adult life like blind puppies, where all childhood dreams and fantasies were destroyed.
Young people and Society
Edward and Florence have a lot of plans for the future: “where and how they would live, who their close friends would be, his job with her father’s firm, her musical career and what to do with the money her father had given her, and how they would not be like other people, at least, not inwardly”. But these plans will never come into reality because they are too childish and too sweet. Edward and Florence thought they are not like other people that they are special (as every person thinks) and their life will be magical. But they were too young to understand that marriage is not only the union of two people “made in heavens” it is an obligation. Adult life is cruel, there are particular laws and if you are not agree with them it would be pretty hard to socialize: “Even when Edward and Florence were alone, a thousand unacknowledged rules still applied. It was precisely because they were adults that they did not do childish things like walk away from a meal that others had taken pains to prepare ”. being adult was something new for them, but they treated it like a game, so they paid for it their happiness.
