Ruby Snow's suicide

Chel said herself that she did not want to end up like Ruby Snow. Ruby was alone, unmarried, had a baby out of wedlock, and was labeled as the town failure(maybe even whore). Ruby was an embarassment to the whole village. "Poor Ruby Snow..." was all anyone could say after her death. Ruby had no future and her predicaments were probably the result of chosing love over stability. Chel was scared she was pregnant with Rob Estes' baby and that he would leave her as soon as the baby came. Chel knew that the other guy would never abandon her. That's why Chel wanted to get married as soon as possible, before it was too late. Seeing Ruby dead in the river kind of ended Chel's fantasies about being with the "Piano Man" forever. Ruby's problems and Chel's worries were just a product of the times that women like them lived in.

I don't know if she was supposed to have a crush on Eric or not. My assumption was always that she just killed herself because of the ridicule she recieved from the community. And she wouldn't have known about Chel and Eric (no one did), so even if she had been in love with him, she would probably still think that he was unclaimed.

Chel was definitely seeing herself in Ruby Snow at that point. A "loose woman" who had thrown her life away for a love affair. She wanted to married Jenz before anyone found out or, as the previous poster stated, in case she was pregnant and needed it to look like the baby wasn't concieved before wedlock.

Please put Spoiler in the subject and don't let someone who hasn't yet watched the movie know what happens.

It was also mentioned, as Eric & Chel were talking in front of the theater, that Ruby was also "half-breed" and that was definitely looked down on at the time the story takes place, and especially in the West and by Mormons.