The article “I-Love-You” by Robert Solomon ticked me to the point I felt frustrated, puzzling my mind with a melange of different thoughts about love. Holding the same perception with him, I was in love with the article – how subtle the words are, how every sentence spoke right out of my mind and how careful the arrangements of the points are for you to be convinced by his principles of love. If I could briefly describe his article, I would say it’s ‘the harsh truth’. However, not all of his dogmatic proclaimations about love I give nods on - some of the ideas he presented looked rather from the thoughts of a depressed mind and some came outright untrue, but some did piqued my interest to the point I would embed his quotations and keep it …show more content…
Hardly a word at all”, he described how an “i-love-you” confession would be in a writing, a letter. In my opinion, confessing love through writing is no less collapsible than how he describes. Love, ironically, as he said is a strong word – one that moves us, one that makes us significantly happy and, also, that will last. Like a memento box where we keep objects that meant the world for us – those objects are equivalent to a letter filled with love. The way those three words bring back the memories of the past – the smiles, the laughter and everything that was shared – is already enough to defy the author’s claims on how trifling an “i-love-you” is in a letter. Imagine living in a faraway place from home and you got a letter from your hometown. It has been years since you last saw them, but yet looking back at those four letters written all over the paper was just enough for you to live up and get a move on. As the author had said “...it has meaning only to you, and only while you can imagine my speaking it.” as he claimed was completely false. He had been kept repeating on how love should be showed with actions, not in words and same as the letters are. I will not remember how you said love to me, but I will remember how you love me. He was, without realizing, contradicting …show more content…
As the author claims “Barther says it is “released”, but I say, shot out, like a weapon” and that we have to commit when we say “I-love-you” is a negative of its own ideas. Love is not a weapon, one that we should be daunted by the commitments and the responsibilities that follow, but rather things that we are going to share together. When one of the cowboys in Texas who pulls a woman was using his rope, and the woman reciprocated, he could cut the rope off. However, in occasions when she came closer, the rope that links them and the journey that trails along the line is what love is all about. If a love is true and strong enough, we will not regard it as a weapon, but as a rope that links us together, making us stronger. The commitments and the responsibilities are not the bullet holes that we have to bear, but rather the threads that strengthen our bonds. The way the love that he describes is too focused on love of a partner rather than love of the whole segment of community in this world. What lies behind the “shots” that we released should not be feared, instead should be released in an honest way when necessary. We never knew if we hit the target if we never try. If the fear of being rejected is as scary as a weapon, but we could never forget the “ropes” that we have with others, pushing ourselves forward and be ready to “cast” it
"Love can affect you so deeply that it reshapes you from the inside out and by doing so alters you destiny for future loving moments" says Fredrickson but she seems to have forgotten that there always two perspectives to any ideology. It is indubitable that the experiences of love play a crucial role in molding an individual, but it is ignorant to say that only love will cause such change. The reality is that not all relationships and encounters are true "micro-moment of love" and those negative experiences also partake in what creates the identity and thought process of an individual. With the knowledge that an individual 's cell play a crucial role in deciding who to have "micro-moments of love"; such negative experience will be associated with the factual, biological notion of love. Thus causing individuals to feel that the negative experience they had to face and deal with were a result of their body and its biology. The idea that their body and brain, essentially unalterable, were capable of causing them pain and heartache, will hinder them from achieving the love and longing for others that Fredrickson describes. The idea that love is functioning by the orders registered by the individual 's body, makes love uncontrollable. Humans in nature are predisposed
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
When an emotion is believed to embody all that brings bliss, serenity, effervescence, and even benevolence, although one may believe its encompassing nature to allow for generalizations and existence virtually everywhere, surprisingly, directly outside the area love covers lies the very antithesis of love: hate, which in all its forms, has the potential to bring pain and destruction. Is it not for this very reason, this confusion, that suicide bombings and other acts of violence and devastation are committed in the name of love? In Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the reader experiences this tenuity that is the line separating love and hate in many different forms and on many different levelsto the extent that the line between the two begins to blur and become indistinguishable. Seen through Ruth's incestuous love, Milkman and Hagar's relationship, and Guitar's love for African-Americans, if love causes destruction, that emotion is not true love; in essence, such destructive qualities of "love" only transpire when the illusion of love is discovered and reality characterizes the emotion to be a parasite of love, such as obsession or infatuation, something that resembles love but merely inflicts pain on the lover.
Love has many definitions and can be interpreted in many different ways. William Maxwell demonstrates this in his story “Love”. Maxwell opens up his story with a positive outlook on “Love” by saying, “Miss Vera Brown, she wrote on the blackboard, letter by letter in flawlessly oval palmer method. Our teacher for fifth grade. The name might as well have been graven in stone” (1). By the end of the story, the students “love” for their teachers no longer has a positive meaning, because of a turn in events that leads to a tragic ending. One could claim that throughout the story, Maxwell uses short descriptive sentences with added details that foreshadow the tragic ending.
A pessimistic view of love doesn’t have to be one of abuse and lying, it can be as simple as just not knowing what love is. Raymond Carver presents a pessimistic view of love in his short story “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” with the use of imagery, tone, and characterization. While Carver tells the story of four friends sitting at a table talking about love he allows the reader to evaluate the strength and authenticity of his character’s relationships. Carver does have his characters discuss abuse and lying, but the underlying theme to his pessimism deals more with the unknown things about love or that his characters just don’t understand it.
The editors of anthologies containing T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" invariably footnote the reference to Lazarus as John 11:1-44; rarely is the reference footnoted as Luke 16:19-31. Also, the reference to John the Baptist is invariably footnoted as Matthew 14:3-11; never have I seen the reference footnoted as an allusion to Oscar Wilde's Salome. The sources that one cites can profoundly affect interpretations of the poem. I believe that a correct reading of Eliot's "Prufrock" requires that one cite Wilde, in addition to Matthew, and Luke, in addition to John, as the sources for the John the Baptist and Lazarus being referenced. Furthermore, the citation of these sources can help explain Eliot's allusion to Dante's Guido da Montefeltro.
Most of the time love is our encouragement when we are in trouble, sometimes love can drag us to things we don’t want to happen in our lives. “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack.” (p.1) The letters from Martha signed, “Love Martha” even though the letters were not love letters, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross understands that he doesn’t receive the type of love he hopes for from Martha.
Paul D’s assertion that Sethe’s “love is too thick” is complex and powerful, as a result of Morrison’s use of short syntax and carefully selected diction (193). Short sentences are often perceived as simple, but in Morrison’s style of writing this is far from...
Love is a concept that has puzzled humanity for centuries. This attachment of one human being to another, not seen as intensely in other organisms, is something people just cannot wrap their heads around easily. So, in an effort to understand, people write their thoughts down. Stories of love, theories of love, memories of love; they all help us come closer to better knowing this emotional bond. One writer in particular, Sei Shōnagon, explains two types of lovers in her essay "A Lover’s Departure": the good and the bad.
Love is something that can be expressed in multiple ways. Whether it be physical, mental or spiritual. These different forms of love appear in Kent Haruf’s novel, Benediction. Throughout the novel, multiple families face times where it could be easy for love to die but instead their love endures. Not only is it about true love towards a spouse, it is also love for a child, neighbour and community. The families of this book each have their own story and in each family their love endures, even during difficult times. There are three specific families in this novel that deal with love in very different ways. Dad Lewis and his family, the Johnson women and Reverend Lyle and his family. This novel shows the times where love is pure and joyous but it also shows the painful side of love. Pain of losing or hurting someone that you loved. On the other hand, love can bring such joy to a couple or even a family. It is something that cannot be seen, heard or touched. It is only felt. The way you feel when you are with that person is the most essential aspect to love and every person experiences it differently. True love is often put to the test when life gets in the way. It is
I love you.’ ” (Haig 236). In this passage the narrator is showing regret for the actions he has taken, and even though he could have lied to her, and kept her in love with him, he told the truth
The effects of love and sacrifice on one’s life can be shown through the character of Lucie Manette in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The way Lucie applies warmth to her friends and family and sacrifices for them has a greater impact than anything else could possibly do. In fact, loving gestures have the power to do anything. They can brighten moods and ameliorate one’s day. Overall, Love is a powerful feeling. It can be defined in many ways, but is always an important emotion to have. Without it, humans are empty. It is a necessary part of living; with it, anything is possible.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” In modernism, fragmentation, open form, and themes of hopelessness take priority over the fixed form and meter of the previous era. It is about bold strokes and individuals whose writing style encompasses the changing world. T. S. Eliot is no exception. With his 1915 poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, he uses new modernist ideals as an expression of the pessimistic feelings of society and a shift away from traditional writings. With a variety of literary techniques, Eliot effectively creates a twenty-stanza poem that embodies the modernist sentiments.
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.
“Love is the state in which man sees things most decidedly as they are not. The power of illusion is at its peak here, as is the power to sweeten and transfigure. In love man endures more, man bears everything. A religion had to be invented in which one could love: what is worst in life is thus overcome – it is not even seen any more.”