The Real and not So Real Love (Essay Sample)

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Love: The Real and not So Real
The different facets of love recur and are glaring in the three novels that have been the subject of our study namely; Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, Drown by Junot Diaz, and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Love plays a key role in the stories and forms the basis of any reader’s fascination as its different dimensions are tackled aptly by the three authors. This paper will assess how they have been able to reflect on the cost of affection in both straight and gay relationships and how it manifests in different relationships that the characters find themselves.
Commitment and lack of it is of important point to begin from now for this literary analysis. To begin with, in Drown Yunior’s relationship with his on and off girlfriend Aurora is a reflection of true love. Aurora knows that he loves her and that is why when she is freed from the juvenile home where she has been serving her sentence she turns to Yunior. The question one asks is where are her parents? Dosen’t she have a family to turn to? It is my speculation that Aurora may have been rejected by her family due to her drug addiction and Yunior on the other hand accepts her for who she is. The character Quoyle in The Shipping news by E. Annie Proulx is a reflection of how one’s commitment in a romantic love relationship can be ignored. He is smitten by the attention given to him by Petal whom he marries out of true affection. On the other hand, Petal is not committed as Quoyle to the relationship due to Petal’s philandering ways; desertion and death which affect him immensely. The reality of life is that one can love but this cannot be reciprocated in equal measure as others are averse to affection. In Olive Kittridge’s by Elizabeht Strout , we see commitment that transcends a romantic relationship when Olive’s husband Henry is committed comfort and improve the life of his employee Denise without asking for sexual favors in return. This is demonstrated when he teaches her to drive, to sign a paycheck and even goes to the extent of taking her to obtain her driver’s license.
Love and affection can sometimes be abused or be used as a means to an end. In Drown, we meet Ramon, Yunior’s father whose quest for the American dream sees him get into a marriage of convenience to attain citizenship in America. The woman must have married out of love but for Ramon this is a way out of his desperation to legalize his status. In the novel Olive Kittridge we meet Bruce who views his relationship as a way of reaping the full benefits of a romantic liaison including companionship and sex but fears the commitment that comes with marriage. As a result, he breaks up their engagement at the altar leaving Julie a distraught woman, crushing her hopes and dreams and further unable to move on with life. In The Shipping News, Petal is a character who exhibits the characteristics of an exploitative individual who abuses Quoyle’s affection for her.
Family is the nurturing ground for true love and rejection at the family level for a child can have lifelong effects whether good or bad. In the case of Yunior he feels rejected by his absentee father who is away in a far away land chasing an illusionary dream. He tries to make up for his absence by looking at his pictures and tries to make up for his absence by recreating their relationship to no avail. As a result we see him resort to destructive habits such as drug peddling to earn acceptance and to have a sense of completeness. In The Shipping News, Quoyle unequivocally loves his daughters and he is loved by his aunt who supports him emotionally after the loss of his not-so-loving wife. Family love gives a support structure that sees him accomplish what he never thought he would do like rising through career ranks and repair their old house. It is worth noting that Quoyle grew up in a loveless family where no one was affectionate towards him and that is why when he receives a rare form of attention from a stranger in a pub he quickly gives in only to end up in a loveless marriage. The novel Olive Kittridge Daisy’s late husband was old enough to be her father and this is also a byproduct of family relationships and upbringing. Daisy may have lacked a father figure in her life and that is why she got married to an older man who would give her the affection that she did not receive from her father.
Love does not follow a set script neither does it conform to a third party’s expectations. It may be a choice, a preference an inborn feeling, a journey of self discovery that may defy expectations. Yunior’s expectations that love would follow a given description end in an emotional disaster. He grows up forming opinions on how to date girls from different racial backgrounds and tries to apply these biases in his dating life without success only to conclude that he does not belong anywhere. The Kennisons have a lesbian daughter whose sexual preference they do not approve of. Mr. and Mrs. Kennison brought up their daughter with a fixed mindset that she would one day date and marry a person of the opposite sex which does not happen. In fact it comes as a shock when they learn that their only daughter loves girls and not boys which leave them distraught.
Quoyle grew up in a loveless family where no one showed him affection but things turn out positively after his wife dies in a car accident with her boyfriend. He must have thought that no one cared for him, his fears and troubles until his aunt comes in at a time when things were worse. His aunt gives him attention and affection which he lacked while he was growing up and even in his marriage. This may have come as a surprise to him in the sense that someone outside his immediate family would care for him and his daughters the way his aunt did. For the first time in his life he is able to form meaningful relationships at his work place and more so with his boss’ son who helps him work on his old and dilapidated family home. This defies expectation in that at a time when things are supposed to grow from bad to worse according to his pre-determined life script, they develop even to better as his aunt and friends fill in the emotional gap of affection that he had in his entire life.
Life and love are like a game of risks where emotions are put on the line irrespective of the benefits that may reap from it or even the emotional losses that one may have to put up with. To begin with, Yunior loved his father even though he was absent and kept making promises which he never lived up to until he was nine years. However his affection is met with harsh reactions which leave him confused. For example, when he eats before getting into the car his...