Nicole Krauss was born in Manhattan, New York City but grew up on Long Island. Her interest in writing began when she was a teenager and in 1992 she began school at Stanford University. The History of Love is influenced by familiar places in Krauss’s life such as Slonim and New York and the characters also reflect her own background of being Jewish.
On the other hand, Michael Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka and later moved to England where he studied at Dulwich College. In 1962, he took residence in Canada where he taught English literature at a few different colleges. Ondaatje uses a lot of imagery and
For both The History of Love and The English Patient, love is a prevalent theme in all the characters lives. However, in both novels, we see that none of the characters actually ever really find that love. One of the first things that Krauss introduces us to is Leo’s love for his childhood friend Alma. Through his book, we discover this amazing story of Leo promising that the only girl he will ever love is Alma. This love story never happens in real life because Leo ends up hiding during the war invasion and Alma moves to America where Leo finds her several years later married to another man. I found that in both novels, an overarching theme of love and its ability to transcend anything becomes very significant. For Leo, Alma’s unattainability never hindered his ability to love her. Throughout his entire life, he only chose to love one girl, “One upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering” (Krauss 11). Besides Alma, Leo’s love for his son Isaac is just as strong, as he basically continues living for Isaac. After finding out that he was Isaac...
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...beyond anything he can control, “The minute she turns away from him in the lobby of Gropi’s bar after he greets her, he is insane” (Ondaatje 156). His connection with her is deeply psychological and emotional that within minutes of her being away he is going insane emotionally. Just like the English patient, Hana also holds this type of love for her father. Hana is shown to be troubled throughout the entire novel after her father had died, “She feared the day she would remove blood from a patient’s face and discover her father or someone who had served her food across a counter on Danforth Avenue” (Ondaatje 50). Both Ondaatje and Krauss succeed in depicting how true love that is sincere will transcend time and place. Leo, Alma’s mother, the English patient, and Hana all experience genuine love that will prevail despite the unattainability due to death or distance.
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
In Aphra Behn’s Oroonko, and Voltaire’s Candide, love is a subject of prominence; it serves as a starting point for both of these characters. For example, if Candide hadn’t fallen in love with his insatiable beauty, Cunegonde, he would not have been thrown from his home, castle Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, and sent on his dreadful journey across Europe. “The Baron of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh passed by the screen and, talking note of this cause and this effect, drove Candide out of the castle by kicking him vigorously in the backside (Voltaire 356). Throughout the entire story, Voltaire discusses Candide’s impalpable feelings for Cunegonde; he even commits twice to be with his fair maiden. Throughout the entire story, Candid, discusses his impalpable feelings for Cunegonde; he even commits twice to be with his fair maiden. “It was a quick, clear chain of reasoning; without giving the inquisitor time to recover from surprise, he ran him through and laid him beside the Jew” (Voltaire 367). Candid will even leave the “best of all worlds”, Eldorado, to retrieve Cunegonde, from the Governor of Buenos Aires, whom Cunegonde willing accepted a proposal from, thinking only about her own wellbeing. “We have enough to pay off the governor of Buenos Aires-if indeed; a price is placed on Miss Cunegonde” (Voltaire 385). Likewise, Oroonko’s’ love for his beautiful, Imoinda marks the starting point of his unfortunate journey. For example, Oroonko’s lover Imoinda is sent a veil, from his grandfather, the king; the veil signified that Imoinda was now his wife, therefor, she and Oroonoko, were no longer able to pursue marriage. “He sent the royal veil to Imoinda; that is the Ceremony of Invitation: he sends the lady, he has mind to honour with his bed, a vei...
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two characters who, throughout history, have been heralded as the world’s greatest lovers and who have been set up as yardsticks against which future lovers must be measured. The tragic courtship between Romeo and Juliet has become so idealized and revered that even the Oxford English Dictionary lists this definition under the word ‘Romeo’:
In the early seventies, a movie, Love Story, touched many people’s heart. Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail. Oliver and Jenny continue to build their life together. Relying only on each other, they believe love can fix anything. But fate has other plans. Soon, what began as a brutally honest friendship becomes the love story of their lives.
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.
Time and again, history has created a star-crossed couple that overcomes all obstacles through the strength of love. Whether it is from Pyramus and Thisbe, Romeo and Juliet, or Jack and Rose, the only possibility to separate the couple is the death of one or both individuals. Love is defined in these relationships as fighting against all odds, class, society, and even family, in order to be with their loved one. While these stories may be fictional, history has presented a real case of star-crossed “lovers”, Peter Abelard and Heloise. This couple went to little length to fight society in trying to establish a relationship with one another. Although considered a love story to some, a relationship founded on lust, inability to fight for marriage, and union to the church, shatters the illusion of romance and shows the relationship for what it truly is, a lackluster liaison.
In our society, love can be portrayed in thousands of ways. With simple things such as giving someone a hug or something more elaborate such as marriage. These things show are affection and love towards others, but it does not just end there. In Romeo and Juliet, as well as our society, we portray many different styles of love. These styles of love that I thought were portrayed well in Romeo and Juliet were physical love, emotional love, and paternal love.
There exists no power as inexplicable as that of love. Love cannot be described in a traditional fashion; it is something that must be experienced in order for one to truly grasp its full enormity. It is the one emotion that can lead human beings to perform acts they are not usually capable of and to make sacrifices with no thought of the outcome or repercussions. Though love is full of unanswered questions and indescribable emotions, one of the most mystifying aspects of love is its timeless nature. Love is the one emotion, unlike superficial sentiments such as lust or jealousy, which can survive for years, or even generations. In the novel The Gargoyle, the author, Andrew Davidson, explores the idea of eternal love between two people, a union that spans over centuries spent both together and apart. Davidson, through the use of flashbacks, intricate plot development and foreshadowing, and dynamic characterization, creates a story that challenges the reader’s preconceived notions regarding whether eternal love can survive even when time’s inevitable grasp separates the individuals in question.
There are cultural significances to the idea of “love medicine” and how the idea of love comes in different packages. In addition to these cultural images, the significance of “love medicine” can be seen between many separate characters within the novel, however I am going to focus on the following sets of characters: June and Gordie Kashpaw then Lulu Nanapush, Nector Kashpaw (and Marie Lazarre).
This goes along with what I stated before on “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” how we don’t know everyone’s complete background to why they would think love is to them. In Arthur M. Saltzman’s reading of “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” suggests that “The saving grace of love is its elasticity” (1571). Something I also support since Mel and Terri have both been remarried, undergone hardships like divorce and tragedy. Proving that even though love is not everlasting it is elastic in the way that it is retainable. A.O. Scott’s criticism on “Looking for Raymond Carver” states on page 1576, how the narrator of “Cathedral” has an epiphany after drawing the cathedral for the blind man. The narrator stating “It was like nothing else in my life up to now”. I do agree with what Scott is saying since before in the beginning of the story the narrator didn’t like
When we find a love interest and have an opportunity to commit to him or her, we usually do, not noting the consequences we may face by doing so. The first few times around, however, the outcome is usually not the one we had expected and hoped for. Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God portray two young women on their trek to find the perfect love. Even though Carrie Meeber and Janie Crawford have almost nothing in common, they both shared the impact of the same consequences. Carrie and Janie show how people of countless numbers of backgrounds can share the same experiences and consequences through their journey of love.
Another type of love we are exposed to during the same scene is the love of Lady Capulet. Lady Capulet, as well as The Nurse, believes love comes from appearance, both physical and political, and has nothing to do with emotion. She shows this when she speaks favorably of Paris's looks and his nobility. She also shows that it is a superficial love by the way she treats Capulet when she publicly denounces him. “ CAP: What noise is this?
When two people fall in love at their first meeting, it is considered “love at first sight”. This theme is presented in the play during Act One after the wrestling match between Orlando and Charles. After the match, Rosalind immediately fell in love with Orlando, “My pride fell with my fortunes. I’ll ask him what he would. —Did you call, sir? Sir, you have wrestled well and overthrown more than your enemies (Shakespeare, 1.2. 213-216).” “Love Story” sets up this scene in the play because Rosalind begins to fall in love with Orlando because she is “overthrown” by him. Orlando also falls in love with Rosalind during this scene as well. Orlando says, “What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue? I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference. O poor Orlando! Thou art overthrown. Or Charles or something weaker maste...
Love is a word that is often times thrown around without any meaning attached to it whatsoever. This phenomena is usually seen amongst teenagers and young adults as they use love to describe their unexplained feelings for their significant other. This presents a problem because young people can mistake love for different emotion which leads to an unauthentic relationship. In the play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” William Shakespeare addresses the different meanings the word love can possess, while simultaneously giving hints as to how love should manifest. In addition to all this, Shakespeare’s thoughts and ideas on love not only give insight about his time period, they also span a myriad of generations and remain true to this day. Shakespeare,
The wife is dismissive of the husband’s effort to rebuild the bridges that once spanned between them, and the husband is distressed when he says, “My words are nearly always an offense” (Frost 45). The authors of the analysis feel that instead facing her husband and the death of her child she avoids the memories and her husband as they write, “Her tireless performance of watching out of the window is illustrative of escapist to memories of the past…” (Hanif, Jamil, and Mahmood 10). They summarize, “Amy cause of unconscious level of mind (mental disorder) also becomes the cause of death of his marriage already she had lost his child” and by this statement Hanif, Jamil, and Mahmood imply that her inability to accept reality will overcome the husband’s pleas for