Love, partnership and commitment have been the subjects of a multitude of novels, plays poems, movies and great works of art. Throughout these works, the image of love and commitment in love have taken many different forms. Today, we easily recognize symbols of commitment in love to be items such as hearts, wedding bands, roses, etc. However, in literature, especially, more abstract and creative symbols of commitment to a loved one are often present. Additionally, the symbols of devotion that exist in literature do not always involve romantic love as opposed to many movies, painting and sculptures. For example, in the short story, “Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai, symbols of loyalty to a loved one manifest between two sisters. In opposition to symbols of loyalty existing in a platonic manner as it does in “Saving Sourdi,” Peter Meinke’s “The Cranes,” provides symbols of commitment in an amorous relationship.
Throughout the short story, “Saving Sourdi,” Sourdi and her younger sister, Nea experience many trying events together. Through these events, they both grow stronger, however, there is a sharp divide in their maturity levels, which ends
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up being the cause of their eventual separation in the closeness of their relationship. While this drastic difference in their personalities leads to their eventual growing apart from one another, Chai provides the audience with the knowledge that the sisters would still do anything they had to for one another. Through the symbols provided in one of Nea’s memories of her sister, the commitment to Sourdi is clearly exhibited. During this scene, Nea reminisces about living in Cambodia with her older sister.
In this memory, Sourdi carried Nea across a minefield, effectively saving her younger sister’s life. As a result, Nea feels as though she owes her life to Sourdi and must make it up to her in some way. “I would walk on bones for my sister, I vowed. I would put my bare feet on rotting flesh. I would save Sourdi”(Chai 93). In this quote by Nea, her unwavering commitment to her sister is revealed. Nea is willing to go through any type of dangerous or threatening action, even walking on bones and rotting flesh with the impending threat of death from a land mine in order to help her older sister. Nea’s loyalty to her sister is unrivaled as shown with this strong symbolism present in her recollection of this important scene of her
life. Alternatively, in the short story, “The Cranes,” the author provides symbols of commitment to a loved one in a romantic relationship. While watching cranes in their natural habitats, an elderly couple reminisce about the life they shared. Traditionally, crane birds are representative of presence, integrity and honor or being true to your word.
When she first appears in the short story, Nea instantly displays aggressive behavior in order to protect her sister from a man. She seemingly protects her older sister from a threatening man by stabbing the man with a knife. Nea tries to justify her rash behavior by say that, “he was hurting Sourdi!” (Chai 282). Throughout the short, Nea continues to defy rules and act impulsively due to her protective nature of Sourdi and sees her sister’s relationship with men threatening her own as the story progresses.
Through his characters, Zindel was able to portray how grievous love is. Although it is the foundation of life, it is also misleading and corrupt. Mr. Pignatti’s glass pigs reflect his love story; from the moment he met his wife to their last memory. The metaphor is very significant because love is a delicate piece of glass and once its shattered,
As one progresses through life, they may find him or herself spending a substantial amount of time attempting to find love. Day after day they try to find the perfect person for them; the one they could spend the rest of their lives with. However, it is not until one turns off his or her searchlight for love, that love makes itself apparent. In the short story “A Bolt of White Cloth” by Leon Rooke, the idea that love is a noticeable, yet unexpected force is presented. Rooke used a plethora of symbols to depict love, with one of the more prominent symbols being the sun. Love can often “come out pure, without any grief to bind it”, just like a sunrise. When the sun rises, it symbolizes purity; a purity that signals to those who are struggling
There are many kinds of love, relationships and companionship in the world. However, during some sensitive periods of time, some love is marked as forbidden love or guilty love. Some people had to give up their love, some people had to decide to hide their love forever, some people had to get rid of the result of the love to protect themselves under that background. Wayson Choy, the author of The Jade Peony, tries to use the conflicts in the novel to tell people what real love is. Therefore, in the novel, the three relationships are three kinds which are not easily accepted by people at that time. Love has nothing to do with nationality, love has nothing to do with age, love has nothing to do with gender.
Searing the mind with stunning images while seducing with radiant prose, this brilliant first novel is a story of damaged lives and the indestructibility of the human spirit. It speaks about loss, about the urgency, pain and ultimate healing power of memory, andabout the redemptive power of love. Its characters come to understand the
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.
The Lais of Marie de France is a compilation of short stories that delineate situations where love is just. Love is presented as a complex emotion and is portrayed as positive, while at other times, it is portrayed as negative. The author varies on whether or not love is favorable as is expressed by the outcomes of the characters in the story, such as lovers dying or being banished from the city. To demonstrate, the author weaves stories that exhibit binaries of love. Two distinct types of love are described: selfish and selfless. Love is selfish when a person leaves their current partner for another due to covetous reasons. Contrarily, selfless love occurs when a lover leaves to be in a superior relationship. The stark contrast between the types of love can be analyzed to derive a universal truth about 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.
Love is considered to be one of the most powerful emotion. This emotion may lead a individual to be overjoyed or very unhappy. We see how all the protagonist in each of the stories strive to maintain affection.
Although both sculptures, LOVE and The Kiss, are about love, they touch upon different aspects of love. The LOVE structure illustrates love in general, as a whole. The word love can be interpreted into the love a parent has for their child or even the love of an object. On the other hand, The Kiss can be interpreted as ecstasy or even lust. Although The Kiss seems to be viewed as the more romantic of the two, LOVE demonstrates love better because the...
The first love is a common theme in the lives of all humans and is the one in which most people remember most. Most people can agreee that these first encounters are usally awakward and reticent and are somewhat regretable but attempt to have seriousness and intentent and are somewhat memorable. Gary soto and his poem “Oranges” display this kind of first love with honesty but also subtle seriousness. “Oranges” tells of a male narrator’s and his partner on their first date and everything they encounter and feel from the narrator’s perspective. In the poem, Soto, uses his litreary skills to depicte and craft the narrators’s first romantic relationship with devotion and fondness through the use of contrasts in imagery, form, and symbolsim. This use convays to the reader the emotions of the
Love in The Lais of Marie De France and Sappho is seen as this complex source of emotion in multiple ways for their characters and themselves. In many ways, love is something the authors themselves are trying to understand, by grappling through the multi-faceted aspects of love. In both texts, love is characterized as a dichotomy; positive aspects of love—that are shown through the properties of pleasure and healing, and there are negative aspects of love—that are expressed through suffering and jealousy. While it is difficult to define what love truly is through the texts, the reader can better understand the multiple waves and dimensions of love as experienced people who serve it.
Love is defined in many different ways; often times it depends on the person you ask. Sometimes it can be mistaken for lust or hate, and some people don’t even believe love exists. Although each individual carries their own opinion and perspective, it is safe to say that the portrayal of love in literature and film can appear much more magical and grand than it is in reality. Love can be an extremely controversial topic, but for the duration of this paper I ask the reader to hypothesize with me and explore the point of view from the literature and film aspect. I will be comparing the theme of love in the film Twilight and the story The Mysterious Stranger. Specifically, I will be comparing the theme of love in contradiction with “love” that
When Sonali remembers, and can speak the truth, she finds joy in the remembering, and in who she was with the people she loved. She can piece back together who she is by remembering who she was. The beauty of her memories, and the imaginings of her sons—Vikram would be fourteen—makes me celebrate her bravery.
There was no white dress, henna flowers, or coconut candies she had always wished for on a day that was supposed to be special. Nujood knew at this point that it wasn’t fair for his father to marry her off to a thirty year old man because of his money. She was truly unhappy, but little did she know what the future had in store for her. Any young girl would be terrified to be in such situation, especially because girls at that age are innocent. Nujood was a brave young girl who took the courage to speak up, and stand up for what she believed was right for her. For a girl that young to think and act the way she did was very mature. Her story still inspires many of us about the issues of sexism and gender