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15

Feb

Is it possible for love to exist across classes in America today?
“Emily (not her real name) didn’t have to work, but while she was looking for an internship at a TV studio, she found a job in a bookstore. She said she was grateful for her inherited wealth but did not earn it so would not use it. Sometimes, though, she’d dip into it to buy me things she thought I needed: a new leather jacket, hand-stiched cowboy boots, a wool sweater from Ireland. I was grateful for these things but felt undeserving. I’d never been around anyone with money before—someone who could just buy whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it.”
—Andre Dubus III, “The Land of No: Love in class-riven America.”

Is it possible for love to exist across classes in America today?

“Emily (not her real name) didn’t have to work, but while she was looking for an internship at a TV studio, she found a job in a bookstore. She said she was grateful for her inherited wealth but did not earn it so would not use it. Sometimes, though, she’d dip into it to buy me things she thought I needed: a new leather jacket, hand-stiched cowboy boots, a wool sweater from Ireland. I was grateful for these things but felt undeserving. I’d never been around anyone with money before—someone who could just buy whatever she wanted whenever she wanted it.”

—Andre Dubus III, “The Land of No: Love in class-riven America.