What would you do.

Mistakes and Cheating

By Andrea Basile

What would happen if you made a mistake you couldn’t fix? This happens to Francesca Johnson in the amazing yet devastating novel “The Bridges of Madison County.” Francesca chooses to cheat on her husband with a photographer named Robert Kincaid. One you cheat, you can never go back. Francesca made a mistake, and she could not fix it…this makes her human.

Everyone makes mistakes, its part of life. Little kids lie to their parents about breaking the lamp, sisters and brothers fight and end up hurting one another, teenagers say they hate their parents, other people bully. These are all examples of mistakes that you can’t change. You’re supposed to learn from your mistakes but some mistakes are greater than others…such as cheating. In the captivating book “The Bridges of Madison County”, Francesca chooses to cheat. She shared her body with Robert Kincaid. Her passion for this man was so strong that she couldn’t help but fall in love with him. But with every action comes consequences. Her consequence was to choose either the man she loves truly...or her own family. Both choices are heartbreaking. Francesca could choose to go with the love of her life, and hurt her husband and children or she could let go of the man she loves and stay with her flesh and blood. However if she stayed with her family she would be haunted by the memories with Robert. Of course, Francesca wouldn’t have to make such a difficult choice had she not made the mistake of cheating in the first place.

Francesca has always wanted to live in the city and have adventures and be happy. But she didn’t find that with her husband Richard. So when Robert came along she felt a connection with him and that lead to her being unfaithful to her husband and family. Everyone knows that cheating is wrong. It’s a sin. So why was the cheating such a big mistake, doesn’t she deserve a little happiness? Well Francesca chose her path when she said “Come for dinner” to Robert. Therefore she chose, with her freewill, to cheat and that leads to pain. That’s great that she got to be happy for a couple days, but now she will be tortured without Robert. And that’s why it was such a big mistake.

   Francesca lived her full life in the days she spent with Robert Kincaid. They were happy, light, joyful days. Before Francesca met Robert her life was boring and sad. When she met Robert she was filled with happiness and beauty. After Robert left, her life was as sad as it could get. Francesca didn’t need to feel that pain of loss…when she saw Robert for the first time in his big truck Henry, she could have told him the directions and went on with her life. But as I said before, everyone has a choice and she chose to be with Kincaid. Some people might think that this is not a mistake because she got to be happy…but in my perspective she could have saved herself a lot of sadness. So I guess I will wrap this up with one question…what would you do if you made a mistake you couldn’t take back?