Clara the destructor

First and foremost I will say that Susan Glaspell had a way of writing that was hard to grab my attention.  I found Looking After Clara to be somewhat predictable as once you know the setting and situation you can easily see this man is in a lose-lose situation.  You meet a poor sap by the name of Mr. Blatchford who seems caught up in societies ideal of being married although he genuinely seems interested in Miss Dorothy Ainsley.  Mr. Blatchford wants so badly to be involved with Miss Ainsley that he will do anything including breaking the rules of his boarding home and caring for an animal he has quite a distaste for, a cat, all in the name of love.  Mr. Blatchford is feeling the pressure of marriage and societal expectation and Miss Ainsley it would seem is exploiting their "friendship" for her own benefit.  She is cast as the villain, in my eyes and lives up to her expectation.  She knows this poor sap would do anything for her but asks him in a way that he thinks something great is going to happen.  The poor man goes through hell and high water for her, he ends up being the pariah of his building due to this cat, ends up losing her and half way losing his mind until he thinks hes found her, he also puts his job in jeopardy by showing up late due to this feline.  All of his efforts prove to be unworthy in the end because he returns the wrong cat.  He ends up devastated, with a damaged reputation in his own home and at work, all the while the cat comes back and is waiting after he has lost it all.  Its almost sad, I can see it as a cartoon being played out but I relate to this so well.  I, at one time, would do anything for that person I wanted and thought I needed, mostly because I wanted to feel normal.  It all ended up being unworthy it because in the end of things I lost almost everything including myself.  This poor man lost many things over a simple favor that he was hesitant to do but did because he thought he must.