The purpose of this essay is to argue the importance of trust and how simple it is to destroy it. Trust is a complicated thing to gain yet so simple to take away. Communication and honesty are essential to a healthy relationship.
“November 9” By: Colleen Hoover Trust is something that is difficult to establish but simple to ruin. “November 9,” a romance novel written by Colleen Hoover, goes into depth on the challenge of establishing trust and how simple it is for one secret to break it. Fallon and Ben, meet by fate at a diner where their connection was instant. They met in a very untraditional way; when Ben chimed in on an argument Fallon and her father were having. Ben acted as if he were Fallon’s boyfriend without even knowing her and the two soon hit it off. Throughout the novel Fallon and Ben learned each other's secrets and established an immense amount of trust while navigating a long distance connection until a drastic secret was revealed that changed everything. Fallon’s relationship with her father has been weak ever since her fathers house caught fire while she was there and he forgot that she was in it. She luckily survived the fire but was left with scars that covered her face and body. The accident ended Fallon’s acting career and took away all of her confidence. Fallon felt as if she was no longer beautiful and blamed her father for the fire. When Fallon met Ben, the day before she left for a cross country move from LA to New York, she thought that she would never find love due to her scars. However, Ben surprised her with an instant connection and a desire to spend the rest of the day with her. November 9th was now not only the anniversary of the fire, but the day she would spend with Ben. Fallon knew that moving to New York was the best thing for her even if it meant leaving her new found interest. Fallon and Ben agreed to meet at the same diner every November 9th with no other communication the rest of the year. By making this agreement they put their trust in each other to meet at the diner every year and follow the “homework” that they had to complete during their time apart. Ben, an aspiring novelist, chose to write a book about Fallon’s life. Fallon put all her trust into Ben and told him all her hidden truths for the novel. Fallon and Ben met for seven years on November 9. Their meeting location and situation changed every time, but their connection continued to grow and they were soon in love. Ben and Fallon made an agreement that she could not read the book until it was complete. However, when Ben’s brother passed away and Fallon came to his house to comfort him, she couldn’t resist opening the unfinished novel and reading it. Finding out this hidden secret about Ben caused her to become guarded and lose all trust in him. After Ben’s mother committed suicide when he was a young boy, he discovered that his mother was in love with Fallon’s father. Ben’s anger took control of him and he went to Fallon’s father’s house and lit his prize possession, his car, on fire. The fire soon spread to the garage and the house. Ben instantly knew that this mistake would control his life if he didn’t keep it a secret. Hiding this from Fallon caused her to hate him. After Fallon discovered the hidden truth, her and Ben went their separate ways. However, Ben could not tolerate life without her and was willing to do whatever he could to regain her trust. This secret between Ben and Fallon displays how simple it is to destroy a trust that has been built. The importance of trust and honest communication in a relationship is shown in this novel. Their time apart and valued time together was disrupted by one hidden truth. Navigating a long distance relationship and Fallon trusting Ben to write about her shows how trust can go a long way if one lets it. Trust is difficult to establish but simple to destroy.