Introduction
In world literature, perhaps, there is no other topic that is as widespread, provocative, diverse, or centuries-old as love – or its absence. Love, which has become an integral part of the human experience in its various forms, is a key and very complex concept that various writers have tried to express and convey to their readers. One of the most important feelings for the human race has been discussed and described since ancient times, and fortunately, it will never become obsolete. Love, whatever it is, equally excites both an adult and a child: many are ready to perform heroic feats for the sake of love, and some do not even realize the beauty and power of this feeling.
That is why many poets and writers strive to show the true place of love in human life and relationships, using their own methods inherent only to them, and expressing their views on love. With volcanic energy, the theme of love is revealed in modern literature: poets, writers, philosophers, and journalists, as well as critics, write about it. The fiction of late twentieth and the twenty-first centuries has been focusing more not only on romantic or religious love of different kinds but also on its more philosophical and problematic aspects. This paper will explore the theme of love in two modern literary work: a short story Good People by David Foster Wallace and a poem For Luis by Ariel Francisco.
Good People by David Foster Wallace
David Foster Wallace wrote his story Good People in 2007 – just a year before his suicide in 2008. The weight of the writer’s depression and frustration is rather well visible in the story, as it explores the feelings and concerns of a young man who is faced with a hard dilemma. The nineteen years old Lane Dean and his girlfriend Sheri Fisher are both Christians – they strive to live in accordance with Biblical values and have even met each other at a church event. However, they are also young, and have made not one but two grand mistakes that are usually heavily frowned upon by the Christians. First, they had premarital sex, as a result of whish Sheri got pregnant, and now, at the beginning of the story, they sit in a park to discuss abortion.
The theme of love in this story is multifaceted: there is the main characters’ love for God, for each other, and – possibly – for their unborn child which they both do not really want to keep. Lane confesses to his girlfriend that he does not love her romantically – but still, he intends to stay by her side through the whole ordeal. This can be seen as a manifestation of both platonic love and Christian devotion to moral ideals. Frantzen adds that “the question of empathy in Wallace’s fiction is a recurring and recently flourishing subject across the field of Wallace studies” (259). Obviously, Sheri is not happy with his honesty, holding her thoughts to herself which further frustrates Lane. Thus, to the concerns about their child, about how they violated values they hold sacred, and what other people would think adds the pressure of unrequited love and the tension that comes with it. However, the story is still interwoven with the notion of love, most of all, Christian love – to be kind and forgiving to people around you as they are only humans and can make mistakes.
For Luis by Ariel Francisco
The humans’ inherent love for living that is seated deep within the unconscious is a concept that has been conveyed in the fiction, and especially, in poetry, in many various ways. However, Ariel Francisco’s poem For Luis is not exactly about celebrating life or seeking out the hidden joys or reasons to live. It might be hard to see the theme of love at the first read of his poem, as it speaks of a former soldier who dies by accident after a seemingly good day of meeting his fellow comrades. However, after the reader delves deeper into the poem and starts to resonate with it on a more emotional level, the meaning becomes more clear.
For Luis is full of longing and compassion for a man who managed not to die in a war and built a life for himself. However, he lost his life so tragically due to an accident which is not exactly an accident – it is tied deeply to his past. The soldier is shown as a man who, despite the trauma his experiences inflicted on him, still loved his life and found joy in it, only for it to be torn from him by the war again. The poem describes beautifully the feeling of warm sun and he tiredness of a man that had seen too much. When the traffic lights and the roar of engine blind him into believing he was a paratrooper again, and he jumps towards his death, the reader reaches emotional peak together with him. This poem is a song for love, life, and joy – and it shows how easy those crucial for a human things can be torn from the people.
Conclusion
Love remains an actual and even vital topic in both literature and poetry, and many writers and poets try to show different facets of that complex feeling. The literary works themselves are not only pieces of written though – they also represent the inner world of the author with their own feelings and experiences. The more the reader understands the words of the poem or a story, the deeper they get to know the spiritual essence of the author and understand them as a person.
Works Cited
Francisco, Ariel. “The Only Dead Soldier I Know.” Print-Oriented Bastards, 2017. Web.
Frantzen, Mikkel Krause. “Finding the Unlovable Object Lovable: Empathy and Depression in David Foster Wallace.”Studies in American Fiction, vol. 45, no. 2, 2018, pp. 259–279. Web.
Wallace, David Foster. “Good People.”The New Yorker, 2007. Web.