al Reserve, and you can talk to my wife like shes a man. These are certainly statements that he would not be saying about his wife if he thought gender wasnt a problem. As far as their marriage goes, Philip and Sylvia have a very business like relationship. He feels he is the man of the house, which is why he wont let her work. Unfortunately, this way of living for so many years has torn Sylvia apart from him. I believe Sylvia Gullberg is the strongest character throughout this movie. Unfortunately, she too has been living a lie for the past twenty years as a housewife and now even as she lay paralyzed in bed, fights to make a difference. Once a businesswoman, she gave up all of that for everyones sake but her own. And now after all those years of hiding, she will not do so anymore. One of the most difficult things she must face is the realization of her husband, Philip, being afraid of his own race. Sylvia is a very well informed and respected lady. Even Dr. Hyman cannot escape the beauty and inner drive that she possesses. For example, Dr Hyman tells her he has not been so moved by a woman in a long time and is unsure if he can continue treating her. Time and time again she is constantly giving while not ever receiving. Even as she lay paralyzed on the steps of her house, she keeps saying sorry to her husband as if its her fault. This notion of her feeling sorry is recurrent throughout the whole movie. She thinks she is annoying Philip every time she talks about the Jews, which is half the reason why she is paralyzed in the first place. We also see that she is a very caring lady, as opposed to Philip, as she cannot get the picture of two old Jewish men scrubbing the ground with toothbrushes out of her head. She cannot bare the fact that these two men are being humiliated. She even pictures her fathers face on one of them. Sylvias true healing does not come until Dr. Henry Hyman comes into her life. Through h...
