Foreword
The sanctity of marriage in the United States today seems to be almost approaching the point of non-existence. Thousands of divorce hearings clutter the dockets of courtrooms throughout the country with husbands and wives quibbling over alimony, child support and the flimsiest reasons for separation that they could possibly imagine.
Experts in the field of behavioral psychology and many marriage counselors have explained the high divorce rate with one simple sentence. "Too many people marry too young, because it's just too easy."
One solution to the problem might be to make marriage a much harder state to attain, and correspondingly, make divorce much easier.
Author Jackson Robard presents a fine example in his latest novellette, Naked Exposure. Through careful research he has created a story of a young, unsatisfied housewife, married right out of high school, who feels the walls of her marriage closing in on her. The circumstances that make her life so empty are blamed on everything but the real cause: her immaturity.
Because of her lack of ability to cope with the realities of life, young Margie Carney found herself trapped in a darkened alley of sin and corruption, unable to find a way out. There was no one to turn to; not her husband who worked himself to exhaustion every day; not a family priest; nor even a friend. She was a young woman depicted in nomadic America today, completely alone.
But the author hasn't confined himself to the loneliness and helplessness of a single young housewife. In modern America he has seen the terrible results of man's inhumanity to man, and, of course, woman. Cruelty is not new on the face of the earth, but it is certain that the terror it instills has yet to be removed.
Through the use of illegal drugs, extortion and sheer will, a man can easily control the life of another human being, directing his or her every action to suit the moods of the more powerful person.
Margie Carney found herself used by a ruthless man, a young ,man only a quarter of a century old, yet possessed by the evil of thousands of years. She like so many others, lived in fear for her life, her marriage and of death, asking herself finally, "Who's to blame?"
Author Robard has tried to show in his expertly woven story of terror and intrigue where the blame really lies. The swingers and thrill seekers are not a cause, but a result of the disintegration of our society. They use drugs as well as people to satisfy their urgent needs, unwittingly creating more thrill seekers and degradation with their inhuman drives.
Mr. Robard has tried to awaken America to this disintegration, hoping that if someone will act, someone will try to change the prevelant "kicks" attitude in young people today, there might be a chance for the next generation of Americans to live free from the terrible yoke of fanatic disassociation and aimlessness that is tightening its hold on the throat of our society.
-The Publishers Sausalito, California September, 1974