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Say Yes Lesson 2 I Warm-up Discussions Look at the statistics. What is the present divorce rate in America? The statistics regarding the divorce rate in America often report a 50% overall rate of divorce. However, this data is not really very accurate, though it is quite close to the real figures. As per the Americans for Divorce Reform, an approximate of 40-50% of marriages in the U.S., would end in legal separation if the present trends are likely to continue. 50% of all marriages in America end in divorce Most of those marriages break up. Can you come up with some reasons for the break up? There are many factors contributing to the upward trend in the divorce rates and the laws pertaining to divorce are one of them. II Background Information Introduction of the author: Tobias Wolff was born in Alabama in 1945. His parents divorced when he was a boy. Wolff’s mother retained custody of him, while his brother Geoffrey who also became a writer lived with their father. As a child, Wolff traveled with his mother, Rosemary, to the Pacific Northwest, where she remarried. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, young Tobias soon was forced to endure life under his strict and cruel stepfather. During the time, his efforts to get away from his stepfather led to his self-transformation. That period of Wolff’s life is recounted in This Boy’s Life: A Memoir. Tobias Wolff is perhaps best known by the American reading public for his memoir This Boy’s Life, which was later made into an acclaimed movie. From 1964 through 1968, Wolff served as a lieutenant with the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) in Vietnam. He later recounted his wartime experiences in the memoir In the Pharaoh’s Army: Memoirs of the Lost War. In 1972 Wolff earned his B.A. and then his M.A. from Oxford University with First Class Honors in English three years later. That year, his first book, Ugly Rumours, was published in London. Also that year, he won a prestigious Stegner Fellowship from