ives on an emotional edge ready to lash out at the slightest perceived indignation or wrong. He is divorced from his first wife Lillian, his daughter Jill’s reaction to him is one of confusion and fear, and he must take menial jobs like being the high school traffic monitor to make ends meet. The first three chapters of Affliction run 46 pages in length, most of it narration by Rolfe as he sets up the characters of Wade, Lillian, Jill, Jack, and Margie, a local waitress whose relationship with Wade is the one source of stability and nurturing in his life.
However, less than five pages of dialogue from these first 46 pages cover the same span of time and information as presented in the book. Of course, the filmmaker was forced to cut out most of the descriptive narration of Rolfe’s because of time and to create a more dramatic effect on screen. However, in the novel Affliction, Wade’s character is not viewed with as much romance by the author as he is by the film director. In the novel, Wade sc
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