Love story Analysis

Catrine 2.t

” Love story” is a short story about a girl, who is innocently meeting a boy for a date at night to go
to a drive-in cinema. The story is told by a stream of conscious narrator, who gives us total insight
into her thoughts and feelings. Like the quote: “He’ll be here at five past I know. It’s gone eight but
he’ll be here” (p. 16, l. 1-2) This quote illustrates that the reader gets insight into her thought
making process - if u could call it. This stream of consciousness gives extreme empathy towards to
girl, because we can hear all of her and in some ways understand her motives for, her actions and
feelings. But it makes the story totally subjective and limited in how much we are allowed to
actually know what is going on. We are never able to see the girl from the outside, we never know
her name nor how she is perceived by others. Therefore, a character analysis can only be made by
what we as the reader “read between the lines” of what she thinks and feels. Quotes like: ”I look all
wrong” (p. 17, l. 1) and “All my forehead’s showing, all my spots” (p. 16, ll. 10-11) shows that the
she thinks very critically and harshly about herself. And more interestingly these quotes illustrate
that she focuses specifically on how she will be perceived, and that that is what makes her feel
badly about herself.

The boy being late also triggers insecurity in her:” these all think I’m cheap or I’ve been stood up”
(p. 16, l. 20) She assumes that the people looking at her are thinking negatively of herself. This
instinct to assume people see the worst in you, is a symptom of an unstable, low sense of self-worth
that is purely reliant on appearances or other people perception of oneself and ones worth. Looking
deeper into this quote also shows, that because she assumes that other people are thinking the most
negatively of her, shows that this is how she would perceive others if she saw herself. And this is
exactly what she does herself when Katie is standing alone.

The narrator is unreliable. It is clear that the narrator is not telling the objective truth, but it is
clouded by judgements and her point of view, but you can say that for the story it is important to her
subjective, “unreliable” perspective, to give a sympathic insight into the experience of the girl and
the bigger picture it presents of the dating culture and the girls experience.
This also plays into the bigger picture, maybe even “society criticizing” meaning of the title “Love
story”. The reader gets this confusing, icky feeling with the interactions between the boy and the
girl, it is clearly not love that is portrayed in “Love story”.
This isn't love, she is doing it - going on the date with the nice boy, for the looks of it, not because
she truly wants to get to know him. She wants the perfect boyfriend, to get validation. But this also
shows in the part where he wants to get to take it further by unbuttoning her shirt, because all she is
thinking is how this will ruin her image, and her expectations. He also persists in taking it further,
even though she removes his hand. All this he puts up with for her image. by being with him, she
thinks she could get validation and receive acceptance from others, by having a specific image.

Why is it called Love story then? To answer that question lets dig deeper: The characters are never
referred to by their names, only by personal pronouns. This makes the characters feel somewhat
anonymous. This makes it so that the story feels it isn’t bound by a specific time period or place in
the world, but could have taken place anywhere. I think the author meant for this because the story
is more than a story about a horrifically uncomfortable date, it is a commentary on the dating
culture, that even though the story is almost 50 years old, is still relevant. The paints the picture of
love as a transactional, status-focused interaction. We never hear the boy and the girl connect or
have conversation really, we only hear about this clumsy, non-consensual, lustful fumbling in the
dark. It is a warped sense of love that is portrayed in “Love story”, I think that is meant to clearly
illustrate the unhealthy, unloving dating culture that is present in the world.