Wuv.. twoo wuv.

1. James Joyce’s treatment of romantic love in Araby is completely consistent with the universal puppy love that is felt by everyone over the age of ten at one time or another. While I don’t think the boy was in love with Mangan’s sister, I do think the boy thought he was in love with Mangan’s sister. After following her around and daydreaming about her for what seemed like an eternity, the boy wasn’t at all sure of how to act or react to their first conversation. His quest to prove himself worthy of Mangan’s sister ended in semi-disaster and as his eyes ‘burned with anguish and anger’ at the end of the story, you can tell that he is coming to the realization that his attempt to woo his love with a trinket had failed and that his passion had overtaken him to the point that he lost sight of the rest of his life. This is no different than a little boy giving his older brother’s girlfriend a token machine necklace in an attempt to steal her away from brother. Boys chase girls around the playground every single day, just to pull their hair and get a reaction out of them, all while maintaining that girls have cooties, and vice versa. These are displays of what children believe to be love and while the setting and gestures may differ, the basis for the emotions and actions of the boy are consistent across time and culture.

3. In True Love, Sharon Olds describes her marriage as one of “complete friendship”. The imagery presented in the poem corresponds very closely to my definition of ‘romantic love’. My boyfriend and I are very much in tune with each other, and this poem resonated with me because I can identify very personally with both the content and tone of the piece. The last line of the poem seems to be Olds’ thesis in a way, affirming her belief that her marriage and family is her world, that there is nothing else beyond it. Small details make that argument a convincing one, from the mention of her children in what seems to be a rather overtly sexual poem to the fact that she knows where her husband is and what he has been doing even though she can not always see him. There are no walls, no compartments of intellect or emotion within her relationship. Olds writes in a simple, candid style that matches my view of what romantic love should be. Pure, simple, unfiltered, and full of awesome sex.