Red Dirt Don't Wash Roger Mais

 Red Dirt Don't Wash

    Red dirt don't wash follows a Native gardener named Adrian's hapless efforts at courting a maid named Miranda. Adrian gets to know Miranda and develops an interest in her while acknowledging that he believes she is out of her league. Despite believing Miranda is too good for him, Adrian takes measures to improve himself and work up the courage to ask Miranda out thinking that changing himself a bit would make a difference. What makes this story impactful is understanding the stubborn and wishful perspective Adrian has. He is interested in a girl he understands things most likely work with and obsesses over her thinking that he may have a chance to make something happen when in reality he has nothing close to a chance. He could believe all he wanted, he could try to change all he wanted, but at the end of the day there was absolutely nothing he could do outside of changing the very fabric of his identity to get her. Many people go through this phase in their lives where they think they can get something or someone by doing things to alter themselves and that one day they will be whisked off in a fantasy from these improvements they've made but this almost never works. 

    Most of the time if someone is not interested in you for who you are there isn't anything you can do to change their opinion. Their mind is made up and they are not interested in you and the only person that can't seem to get that through their skull is yourself. The moral here is that if someone doesn't like you initially, give up, save yourself the time, and move on, don't trap yourself in some fraudulent illusion. It's almost painful reading of Adrian's fixation on a girl that doesn't care about him in the slightest and will never about him at all. But it's easy to get caught up in daydreams and fantasies and frankly, maybe it was that escape from his harsh reality that she provided that he liked the most. What adds insult to injury the most in this story is how rudely Miranda rejects Adrian's efforts, she quite literally laughs in his face multiple times and treats him like he's some kind of idiot and a victim. This shows that their class difference is just a bridge too far and this is still a reality today. Often times class and lifestyle is enough a driving force alone to either draw people together or greatly separate them. 

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