ESSAY ABOUT LOVE AS A THEME IN LIFE

INTRODUCTION

Love is an intangible feeling that makes us vulnerable to danger, pain and suffering. However, love is the
foundation of friendship; it brings us together and promotes cooperation. Friendship and cooperation is
usually contaminated by betrayal and lies. The people we love can easily manipulate our trust.

We have all experienced different kinds of love in our lives. As we grow up, our parents teach us how to
love through words, actions and feelings. It is true when people say love is life, because life without love
would be meaningless. Love is seen in various aspects of our lives, we see them in literature, pop music,
movies, and religious texts and through life experience.

Love is often described as a beautiful feeling that expresses affection and friendship. In a world full of
social problems, if we loved a little more we could solve most of these problems. Constant violence and
senseless killings only happen because people have forgotten about love. Love can be expressed in many
ways, we have to be aware that love hurts when expressed or not expressed accordingly.When we show
love, we are happy and satisfied with life. Love is a pervasive theme in life, and it makes our lives better.
Throughout the semester we read various texts that express the theme of love in various ways. Below is
an analysis of the theme of love in different texts, movies and in day to day life

LOVE AS A THEME IN DIFFERENT TEXTS

Love is a multidimensional concept in that it can be seen in different angles. Love can be seen in any
subject involving faith, morality, psychology, opinions among others. Love is expressed in different ways
in the following texts; some of these ways are interrelated.

Love can be expressed in various ways, as seen in the texts and movies. Love empowers us to defend the
people we care for and the things we believe in. The first text is “The Declaration of Independence” by
Thomas Jefferson. In this text, love means taking a tough stand in order to protect the rights of your
people. Colonialism was a horrible act that expressed hate and superiority of other people over others
(Barnet, 201). From the declaration of independence, Jefferson argued that all men are created equally
and they are entitled to rights that should not be violated by government. Some of those rights include
right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. When government abuses its power it should be
overthrown for the greater good of the citizenry. In life we have to fight for the things we believe in or
value. A simple example is the fact that nobody can mess with our family members since we love them
and we would do anything just to protect them.
Love can be destructive if it is not contained, or expressed towards the right person. In the book
“Christine”, “Natural” and the poem Daemon Lover we see that love can be destructive especially
romantic love. We do not choose the people we love, but we should love wisely. Love should be directed
towards something/ somebody that has our best interests at heart. In The Natural, Roy Hobbs was
destined for greatness, but he was not able to realize his lust for Memo, who was a negative influence in
his life. Lemon Iris offered Roy Hobbs true love, and a chance of happiness in life but he did not see it.
People are usually hooked to things that end up being their downfall, for instance drug addicts are
addicted drugs, such that they fail to recognize how it is destroying their lives. Just like Roy Hobbs in the
Natural, most of us fall in love with the most beautiful people not because they have our best interests,
and we end up disillusioned about love and life. Love should serve our good interests and it should
bring out the best in us, which was not the case for Roy Hobbs (Malamud, 123). Love does not conform
to popular culture beliefs, and true love is usually in our best interests.

In the book/ movie Christine, Arnold’s love for Christine is blinding, obsessive and self-destructive. This
is the kind of love that we should avoid. Arnold falls in love with a dilapidated 1958 Plymouth Fury. This
is weird since he cannot see the state of the car the way his friend sees it. It seems like the obsession is
mutual when Arnie tells his friend, “Whoa whoa. You better watch what you say about my car. She’s real
sensitive” (King, 56)To Arnold, Christine is a perfect flawless car such that he buys it impulsively. Arnie
spends most of his time restoring Christine, and pulls away from his family and friends. Christine is also
in love with Arnie, such that it runs over Arnie’s enemies when Arnie is out of town.

Both The Natural and Christineare tragic stories of love gone wrong. Roy is unable to shake off his love
for Memo, hence he cannot find happiness. He is so obsessed with Memo such that it is infuriating to
watch it. Roy’s obsession with Memo does not allow him to move on, such that his personal growth is
stalled. Roy’s obsessions end up ruining him in the end.

The possessive car ended up killing Arnie in Christine. Arnie’s love for Christine is blinding such that he
ignores warning signs of the diabolical car. Arnie knew that Christine self repaired itself, he also
knew the history of Christine, but because he loved it he ignored it. Christine destroyed his relationship
with his family, friend and girlfriend. The things/ people we love can destroy us if we are not careful.

In the modern days, people are infatuated with material things such that they forego real relationships.
People have fallen in love with money, success, power and the things they bring. Just like in the movie
Christine or The Natural, falling in love with material things or power cannot feel the void in our lives. A
life without love lacks meaning, and when we fill the void with love for inanimate objects we make the
situation worse. Arnold was a nerd struggling to form meaningful relationships; his love for Christine
destroyed the few relationships he had and it gave him a false sense of self (King, 115). The concept of
love expressed here, is that love should not destroy the meaningful relationships we have. Love for
inanimate objects cannot replace love for our family, friends and loved ones, as inanimate objects cannot
love us back.
Another concept of love common in the text is the fact that love makes us confident. When we love
somebody, we cannot stand disappointing them. In the movie, World War z, the main character would
do anything to protect his family. Everybody is desperately trying to hold on to their loves ones, yet the
post-apocalyptic zombies seem to be in control. The Main character is taken to be in charge of the
investigation since he is capable; this is a risky situation which he does because he loves his family and
human population. Also in Hobbit (book), the main character Bilbo is a shy and timid hobbit, and in the
end he becomes a hero because he conquers his fear in order to save hobbits, dwarves and elves
throughout his journey. Bilbo confesses that, “I have… I have never used a sword in my life” (Tolkien, 8)
Bilbo encounters creatures such as Gollum and evil wolves, but he escapes from them. When Bilbo kills
the giant spiders, it is evident that “Somehow the killing of this giant spider, all alone by himself in the
dark . . . made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder in
spite of an empty stomach” (Tolkien, 54)Love should inspire people to fight for the things they believe in
even when it is hard. In World war z, the main character could have let it go and hid with his family, but
because of love he was willing to fight for the greater good (Brooks, 58). Love makes us perform
certain acts of kindness that does not necessarily benefit us, but it benefits the whole population.
Brave people such as Thomas Jefferson had immense love for their country, and that is why they fought
for independence. In the texts above, characters such as Bilbo, Roy Hobbs in The Natural, and Dennis in
Christine are willing to take risks in order to defend the people they love.

In Daemon Lover, we see that societal expectations sometimes affect how we love. The Daemon Lover is
a story in Chapter 5 from Writing Essays about Literature by Griffith. In the Daemon Lover, Janie who is
the main character wakes up to find her fiancé gone. She is meant to be married, but she cannot decide
on the dress she wants to wear for her wedding. She is 34, and she cannot wait to be married because
society looks down on women over 30 who are not married(Griffith, 78). Society is sometimes can
determine how we love. The ways we love sometimes depend on our socio economic background.
Popular culture and movies makes us believe that we should love people who are beautiful, thin and
have good personality. Janie insisted on getting married not even because she loved him, but according
to society her window for being married was quickly closing up on her. This applies in our day to day
lives, when we reach a certain age our parents expect us to have found the love of our lives and we
should be settling down.

From the above articles and movies, we see different concepts of love. Love makes the characters in the
stories do things they would not normally do. It is obvious that love can inspire us to be courageous, but
it can also be destructive. Arnie from Christine is almost destroyed by the love of his car, in the Daemon
Lover, Janie is at the point of insanity because she is expected by the society to be married, and she is
also lonely.

MEANING/ VALUE OF LOVE IN MODERN SOCIETY

In today’s society it seems like love is expressed more in movies than in real life. People seem to have
neglected the importance of love in everyday relations. Mistrust is a buffer to love, and it is seen in
almost all aspects of our lives. The way we relate with our friends, what we hear in news and many other
events usually spread distrust, instead of love.

Love has lost its value in our lives. The current society has been nurtured by violence. In fact most
Americans are entertained by violence. Violent films and video games are people’s favorites. Statistics
have shown that going to war in Afghanistan can be deemed safer than living in Chicago. This makes us
wonder, have people forgotten about the value of love in society? Only in America that a toddler can
access gun. Bills are being passed in order to legalize harmful weapons, which are used to kill. People’s
values have become so accustomed to violence and hate such that they cannot give a chance to love.

Not only do we see a decline in the level of love in society, but even romantic love is slowly dying.
America seems to be experiencing higher divorce rates than before. The society seems to be condoning
divorce rather than putting in place measures to prevent them. Most kids are being raised in single
families, or in dysfunctional families. The society has developed a different set of values that have
changed the way in which people perceive and love each other. Love is no longer accorded the
seriousness it deserves, there would be less divorces, less crime and a more peaceful society.
Materialism in current society is at its peak, and it is not the simple materialism we see in the movie
Christine. People have become so obsessed with attaining the best cars, money, fame and power such
that they forget.American society is a man eat man society, people would do anything to attain certain
material things. Popular culture values materialism, status, immediate gratification of needs at the
expense of moral values and love.

Given the vast number of problems in the society, people need to reexamine the value of love in their
lives and uphold it. Maybe we should borrow the positive concepts of love from the movies and use
them.
The first value of love is that it helps us lead a more fruitful life with a purpose. A quote on love by Leo F.
Buscaglia (1924-1998) says that, “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for
something. May I suggest it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of
person kind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely”?

When we show love to others, we receive love spontaneously. Love is about giving more than receiving.
In the articles above, most characters were willing to do whatever it takes as a way of expressing their
love. Bilbo in Hobbit and the main character in world war z seem to be living purposeful lives because
they dedicate their lives towards caring for others.

Love brings peace. Love makes us treat each other with kindness and compassion. Love brings people
from diverse backgrounds together, and it creates a sense of peace. The modern society is a diverse
society, each group has its own values and through love we learn to relate well with different members
of the society. Love is the answer to most common problems in the society. Issues such as violence,
bullying, robbery, immorality could be solved if we practiced more love than hate.

CONCLUSION

The value of love in society should not be underestimated as love is the glue to our society. The
foundation of a civil society is reason and love. The modern society is made up of different people who
have their own agendas, which makes it is easy to be caught up in disagreement and conflicts. Without
love and reason people would be easily caught in pursuing their own agendas without caring about
consequences on others.
Love is not just a theme in movies and literature, but it is the utmost theme in life/ society. With a firm
sense of the value of love, each one of us is capable of showing, attracting and maintaining love. Love is
accompanied by an equality- consciousness that fosters self-empowerment, and does not focus only on
immediate circle of family and friends. Love is like a rose, the beauty of love cannot be described, but its
stems are filled with thorns. The above articles and movie adaptations have shown us that love comes
with jealousy, hatred and conflicts, but that should not make us give up on love. According to Shaye
Smith, love is a garden that fades away when you let it go. Betrayal, lies and indifference makes love fade
away.