Editing Tender Mercies (section)

===Love and family===
{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=center |width=225px |align=right | quote  = The grace comes quietly to Sledge, and by surprise and stealth, seeping down deep to shelter and then transform the violent "man who was once Mac Sledge," as the movie puts it. Ultimately, Sledge finds not blankness by love, itself mysterious and inscrutable, a reality that counters the emptiness he has known. Only a few films have managed to capture the gentle quiet splendor by which love, against all odds in this dark world, makes itself known. | source = Roy M. Anker, ''Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies''<ref name="Anker126" />}}

Mac Sledge finds redemption largely through his relationship and eventual marriage with Rosa Lee.<ref name="Jewett5859">{{Harvnb|Jewett|1993|pp=58–59}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Anker|2004|pp=125–126}}.</ref> This is in keeping with the motif of fidelity common in the works of Foote, inspired, said the writer, by his marriage to Lillian Vallish Foote. He told ''[[The New York Times]]'' that she "kept me goin'. She never lost faith, and that's a rare thing. I don't know now how we got through it, but we got through it."<ref name="Jewett5859" /> The lyrics of "If You'll Hold the Ladder", which Mac performs with his new country band in the second half of the film, suggest what love has done for him. He sings of someone holding the ladder for him as he climbs to the top; this is symbolic of Rosa's love and guidance, which has allowed Sledge to improve himself and build a new life.<ref name="Jewett5859" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Anker|2004|p=131}}.</ref> The desultory romances that defined his past are represented by the more promiscuous lyrics of Dixie Scott's songs, such as those of "The Best Bedroom in Town": "The best part of all / the room at the end of the hall / That's where you and me make everything alright ... We celebrate the happiness we've found / Every night in the best bedroom in town".<ref name="Jewett5859" /><ref>{{Cite AV media |title  =Tender Mercies |medium  =Film (DVD)|publisher=[[Universal Pictures]]|time=24:35–25:04}}</ref> His storming out of her concert symbolizes his rejection of that earlier life.<ref name="Jewett5859" /> In contrast, Rosa Lee sings the humble church hymn, "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me".<ref>{{Harvnb|Briley|1993|pp=113–114}}.</ref> In a related way, the film emphasizes the importance of the woman's role in domestic life - although Mac takes on the role of patriarch in his new family setting, it is only through the support and care of Rosa Lee that he is able to settle into this role.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Denzin |first=Norman |year=1989 |title=Reading ''Tender Mercies'': Two Interpretations |journal=Sociology Quarterly |volume=30 |issue=1 |page=49|doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1989.tb01510.x }}</ref> Sociologist Norman K. Denzin points out that ''Tender Mercies'' embodies many of the ideas of recovery from addiction that are part of the [[twelve-step program]] used by [[Alcoholics Anonymous]]. Both the film and the support group's program advocate the idea of hitting rock-bottom, making a decision to stop drinking, dealing with the past and adopting a spiritual way of life.<ref>Denzin, p. 46.</ref>

''Tender Mercies'' also emphasizes the father–child theme common in the works of Foote, a theme that operates on both transcendent and temporal levels. Mac is reunited not only with his spiritual father through his conversion to Christianity, but also with his biological daughter, Sue Anne, when she pays him a surprise visit. Scholar Rebecca Luttrell Briley suggests that although Mac begins to plant new roots with Rosa Lee and Sonny in earlier scenes, they are not enough to fully satisfy his desire for redemption, as he is nearly driven to leave the family and return to his alcoholic ways. According to Briley, Sue Anne's visit prompts Mac to realize that reconciliation with her and a reformation of their father–daughter relationship is the ingredient that had been lacking in his quest for redemption. This is further demonstrated by Mac's singing "On the Wings of a Dove" to himself after their meeting;<ref name="Anker134">{{Harvnb|Anker|2004|p=134}}.</ref> the lyrics describe God the Father and God the Holy Spirit's involvement in the baptism of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This connects Sledge's spiritual reconciliation with the divine, to the earthly reconciliation with his own child.<ref name="Briley109" /> However, the death of Sue Anne also demonstrates that, according to Briley, "all relationships cannot be mended, some by choice and some by chance, and the poignancy of missed opportunities between fathers and their children on this earth is underlined in this scene."<ref name="Briley112">{{Harvnb|Briley|1993|p=112}}.</ref>

The relationship between Mac and Sonny, whose name derives from "son", is central to the film's exploration of the father–child theme. Sonny tries to conjure an image of his biological father, whom he never had the chance to know, through old photographs, his mother's memories and visits to his father's grave. Sonny finds a father figure in Mac. When another young boy asks Sonny if he likes Mac more than his real father, Sonny says that he does, because he never knew the other man; Briley says that this "emphasizes the distinction between companionship and blood relationship Foote has pointed out before."<ref>{{Harvnb|Briley|1993|pp=114–115}}.</ref> The final scene, in which Mac and Sonny play catch with a football Mac bought him as a gift, symbolizes the fact that, although Mac has lost the chance to reconcile with his daughter, he now has a second chance at establishing a father–child relationship with Sonny.<ref>{{Harvnb|Briley|1993|p=113}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Anker|2004|p=140}}.</ref> The father–child theme also plays out through Mac's relationship with the young band members, who say that he has been an inspiration to them, playing a paternal role in their lives before they even met him. Sledge eventually teams up with the musicians, offering them fatherly counsel in a much more direct way.<ref name="Briley111">{{Harvnb|Briley|1993|p=111}}.</ref>