"Ruth and Issac"

I just finished reading Philip Roth's American Pastoral and your story reads so much like it.

"The Marriage of Ruth and Issac" details a mother's inner (and sometimes outward?) conflict dealing with her daughter's wedding. She (the mother) feels that Ruth is marrying way too young, and Ruth believes that she is ready to get married because of their faith in God. In the end, she's worried that she inconvenienced Ruth to the point that Ruth feels bitter toward her, but she's wrong.

I think you do a very good job at describing the inner turmoil that the mother is going through. She details what she wants her daughter's life to be. She recalls of a memory of her and her daughter gardening, which also says a lot about the mother. In fact, a lot of the thoughts that is shown says a lot about her character without actually saying it explicitly.

The way I read her: I think she's just so bent on keeping her daughter--too afraid to let her go--that she uses the rationality thing as an excuse. That's what the gardening memory made it seem like to me, anyway.

I think you can emphasize this more. Maybe make some scenes with dialogue that show the mom and Ruth's arguments. Maybe show some more memories of the past.

I also think that the ending's resolution doesn't tie up the main conflict. The ending makes it seem like the conflict is whether or not Ruth resents her mother. What it really is is the mother losing a daughter. The resolution doesn't seem to fit. She is still unhappy with Ruth's decision and she's still losing her daughter. We need to know how this effects the mom, not whether or not Ruth still loves her.