Analysis Of About Love By Danielle Crittenden

Happiness Inherited

The meaning of life and the true meaning of happiness can be pin-pointed simply by: Grow up. Get married. Have children. These three ending sentences form the basis of the main argument in “About Love”, an excerpt from “What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman” by Danielle Crittenden. Crittenden does not limit the use of her emotional appeal to repeated use of terms like “love”, “friendship” and “independence”. One of the strongest qualities supporting the thesis of “About Love” is Crittenden’s ability to use both connotative and denotative language. Crittenden goes on to say “Too often, autonomy is merely the excuse of someone who is so fearful, so weak, that he or she can’t bear to take

In agreement with the feminist movement, she claims that the marriage our grandparents shared, has no room in the lives of a modern woman. She refers several times to the negative ideas of marriage being a prison and woman having to give up their dreams for a family life. "Feminism has not failed me. It has presented me with compromises and disappointments and I have made some choices that I regret" (Reimer). The contrast between love and independence is overpowering, which she handles with a wide range of emotion. Crittenden acknowledges the advantages and dis advantages of both remaining independent and getting married. Crittenden acknowledges the advantages and disadvantages of both remaining independent and getting married, on an emotional

Other times, falls back on her basis of emotional appeal with statements such as, “A woman will not understand what true dependency is until she is cradling her own infant in her arms” (752). This is a result of the love and devotion she provides for her two children (Reimer). Crittenden looks to fit the profile for a woman who was the founder of a controversial feminist magazine, Women's Quarterly. She has a college degree and has spent quite a bit of time working in the "man's world". Currently she is a CEO, however the part that doesn't fit is that she is happily married and a mother, who stayed home with her children when they were young. Now Crittenden stresses that marriage is an uplifting, joyous experience: “We have ceased to look down the tunnel, waiting for a train” (753). She acknowledges that those in the past have almost been forced to give up their independence because they married so young, but she counters it with wise words like, “By waiting and waiting and waiting to commit to someone, our capacity for love shrinks and withers” (752). Though it’s a big risk, the good far outweighs the bad, both emotionally and logically. Salvation lies within, eternal happiness is in your grasp…all you have to do is grow up, get married, and have