Saturday, August 28, 2010

Love, Love, and more Love

One thing I noticed about all the stories that we read last week was that their seemed to be some form of "love" in each tale. It was quite prevalent in It Takes Two, but in the other stories I don't think it was quite as obvious. In The Island, the main character as this infatuation with the "island." She is so determined to save this "island" that this infatuation can be seen as a love for this wondrous creature. In The Pelican Bar, the main character's parents loved her to the point of sending her away to an institution in order to change her life and she loved to dream of The Pelican Bar which helped her through the toughest of times. Finally, in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Matilda was willing to change into a vampire so that she could go save her boyfriend and Lydia. There were quite a few more examples in the rest of the stories. I think Spar should go without explanation.

4 comments:

Tristram said...

Oh she totally loved that jello sex blob in Spar.

Jenny Strack said...

Well, love doesn't just have to refer to the emotional aspect. Since sex, a.k.a "making love" is the physical act of love, it's valid.

Hand in hand with what often happens with love, I think disillusionment was a big theme last week. I first noticed it in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (Matilda realizing Julian didn't love her, Julian realizing Lydia was just using him, and Matilda making the world watch what the reality of infection was), but it's present in most of the stories. The main character in The Island realizes that other forms of life are no nicer than humans, Cody being told that she wasn't actually in love in It Takes Two, etc.

Mark Penner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark Penner said...

I am not sure I agree with Caleb's point about the parents' love in the pelican bar. The fact that they did not physically tour the facility prior to sending her there for rehabilitation is something of a sign against.

In regards to Jenny's response, perhaps the disillusionment seen in the stories we have been reading is a reflection of a deeper societal disillusionment. Compared to the the early days of the genre, the future doesn't look so bright.