Chapters 11 & 12 Summary and Analysis

In Love Story, when Ruth finishes college, her mother wants her to move back to New York. Ruth refuses, and blurts out that she wants to go to graduate school. Her parents refuse to pay for it, so Ruth gets a job as a lunch waitress at the Sheraton and a cheap apartment in a bad neighborhood. Her next-door neighbor beats his wife every night. One night, Ruth calls the cops and flees, afraid that the neighbor will retaliate against her. She moves back in with her tall, exotic friend Pat. Soon Pat moves to New York and Ruth is left alone, depressed in the apartment.

One evening a tall, lean young man named Doug knocks on the door, looking for Pat. Ruth invites him to dinner. He is a sculptor and a mechanical genius, able to fix anything. Ruth invites...