The Love Of My Life By T. Coraghessan Boyle

What motivates seemilying normal people to act out violently? How does society respond to certain situations of violence? Love can be used as the mundane answer since it can be interpreted in many different ways. If a person loves someone, they may be willing to do whatever they can to protect them. Or perhaps it’s the love one harbors for themselves that causes them to do the unthinkable. In short story “The Love of My Life,” author T. Coraghessan Boyle seems to use the idea of motivation between a young couple who are said to be madly in love. The couple morals behind and have no recollection of the society in which they live where their actions, no matter if they were a secret, will always have consequences. The “Love of My Life”

An article in the New York Times, by Robert Hanley, titled “Teen-Agers Get Terms in Prison In Baby’s Death” we see the real-life court case of Amy S. Grossberg and Brian C. Peterson. At the time of their crimes they were only 18, terrified and had the belief that they had nowhere to turn to. Of course, society spoke of their motivations, how it was all in the wrong selfish spots for each of them. Brian C. Peterson’s (Jeremy) attitude was quoted as “chivalrous” and “stupid”(Hanley 15) when it came to his loyalty to his girlfriend, Amy S. Grossberg(China). While Ms.Grossberg was quoted as “cold-hearted” and “cruel”(Hanley 13) for putting her image in front of the life of her infant son. There are countless ways that they could have handled their situation, and society is always quick to judge and announce that if they were in that spot they’d never do what this young couple did and how horrible it was. However, society doesn’t have a right to say they’d never be capable of that because we never know what we’re truly capable of until we’re being put in a situation. Some in society forgot that this young couple was “panicked” even being quoted as saying they were “kids” who made a terrible mistake and that they will pay for it for the “rest of [their lives]”(Hanley 21). Judgment by society isn’t far when looking at one side of the story. Image

When looking at this story and the court case the question ‘who’s to blame?’ is asked, but this can never be fully answered. Either both are to blame or neither are to blame, though, in parts of the news story, Grossberg is seen as the ‘mastermind’ and Peterson is nothing more than stupid and loyal to his girlfriend. It isn’t that black and white it would be unfair to place the sole blame on either of the young adults. Yet when you look at the short story somehow all the blame is set onto Jeremy and China's motivation is to save only herself. The short story “Love of My Life” take this real-life event and twist it into an idea of motivation and what one is willing to do to get what they want and be successful. Unfortunately, both are still a love story gone rogue, as they saw no other way out than to rid themselves of their problems. However when we look at it from that perspective maybe it says more about the society we live in which causes these teens to act out violently. Either way society would have had something to say, believe it is the ultimate decision maker. The couple was crucified for killing the baby and riding of its body, but whos to say that they wouldn’t have been just as crucified if they kept the baby. Teen pregnancies are not looked highly upon in society. Perhaps, they were indeed scared of what their parents would say not wanting to disappoint