Why didn't Ruth say she wanted to go back when Molly wanted to. Do you think she knew that if Rose was alive, she'd be with Jack and she hated Jack so that's why she didn't go back?

-- sara reynolds (sarar@rnet.net), February 01, 1998

Answers

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

Sara, I tried to answer that question for you in MrShowbiz chat.

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@ccs.carleton.ca), February 01, 1998.

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

One possiblilty is that Ruth's whole carefully crafted scenario of Rose's marriage to Cal had fallen apart. Rose was likely going to die or Cal was going to die, in any event the marriage had gone up in smoke. I believe she was in shock, realizing what this meant to her.

-- Dave Cook (dcook@idirect.com), February 01, 1998.

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

I have to agree with you Dave. Rose the ticket to her sucess. If the marrige to Cal was lost, there was no reason for her to return

-- Colleen (colleendi@earthlink.net), February 01, 1998.

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

I think it can be summed up in one word: FEAR.

Can you imagine how torn she must have been? Will I find her, if I don't will I end of dying? When do I STOP looking for her? When do I give up looking for her? Did she get on another boat? Is she already dead?

Too many things going in her head, too much chaos (sp?) just TOO MUCH.

-- Caron (bianchi@iserv.net), February 04, 1998.

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

I think the reason more boats didn't go back was simply blind terror. The sound of those 1,500 people struggling in the freezing water, screaming from pain, begging for help, was a sound that haunted many of the survivors for the rest of their lives.

There are several accounts of well-meaning passengers and crew proposing to row back, but being 'outvoted' by the majority, including many of the first class ladies. They convinced themselves that somehow their loved ones had gotten off on another boat and were safe. I think that's what was being depicted through Ruth's silence; not arrogance, but blind terror, with a dose of self-delusion mixed in.

In the **REAL** boat #6, Molly Brown **DID** have some help. First class passengers Mrs. Lucien (Mary) Smith, and Helen Churchill Candee joined with Ms. Brown in appealing to go back. But as the film depicts, the crewman in charge, Quartermaster Robert Hitchens, refused, painting a horrifying picture of crazed swimmers swamping and capsizing the boat. And so, boat #6, capacity 65, drifted with 28 people on board.

Kip

-- Kip Henry (kip-henry@ouhsc.edu), February 05, 1998.

Response to why didn't Ruth want to go back

I think Ruth, who was obviously tightly wound, went in to shock, knowing her carefully contrived world had collapsed into destruction, and she was horrified by the ship sinking. I would like to commend Francis Fisher for the absolutely masterful job she did in portraying the character of Ruth.

-- C. Eastwood (foo@bar.com), March 20, 1998.