English

English

            Most works of literature focus on the theme of love. Love is an emotion that is expressed through diverse ways by different people. It can be expressed on the surface as a form of hiding the resentment underneath it (Vonnegut, 1970). Different people express love differently. This can be through diverse gestures or through the presentation of gifts as a token of love. Other people recite poems to the people they love or send them messages depicting their love. Lack of the expression of love to a child might lead him to lack the initiative of providing love later in life. Love knows no bounds. Love cannot be held away by any obstacle. Many obstacles may stand on the way of love but the way people react to these obstacles depicts their feelings towards love.

The story Sunday in the Park talks about a family who went to the park and was happily showing a lot of love, until the minute they were faced with an obstacle and the love façade they had created through their gestures and words was broken down fast by a slight problem leading to feelings of resentment. As Morton and his wife read, their child Larry was playing with another child who spilled sand on Larry and instead of his father discouraging him, he encouraged him (Kaufman, 2004). This made Morton to retaliate by reasoning out with him but when a fight started to brew between them, Morton and his family left the park sparking resentment in the wife, the child and Morton.

The story Who Am I Now talks about two people who had never experienced love in their life who came together to act in a play and ended up falling in love and getting married later (Vonnegut, 1970). Though many people thought that Harry would never get married, Helen Shaw was able to break the barrier that prevented him from getting married and they ended up being happily married. Both learnt to love through each other because they had not been taught by their lives as Harry was an orphan and Helen moved around a lot in her life to a point that she never got the chance to love anyone. Their story ends with love instead of resentment as compared to the story Sunday in the Park.

Love can be expressed through gestures such as squeezing a hand that is put around someone as a gesture of love. This can be seen where Morton put a hand around his wife who squeezed it back, showing the love between them. The tender feelings portrayed by Morton’s wife towards their son were a depiction of love thus, love can be expressed through the exhibition of tender feelings towards someone else as shown by “delighting in the pointed little face frowning in concentration over the tunnel he was digging.” (Kaufman, 2004, p.10). Feelings of love could be converted to resentment easily through a certain happening. This can be shown by the resentment exhibited by Morton’s wife after they left the park. People may not be able to exhibit love in their lives because they have never experienced it.

This may lead to their not enjoying love as it happened in the case of Harry and Helen who had never experienced love in their childhoods, “the trouble with Harry was he had been left on the doorstep of the Unitarian church as a baby and he never did find out who his parents were.” (Vonnegut, 1970, p.16). The eyes of a person who has never experienced love can be opened easily by such events as their involvement in a love play. This happened where harry and Helen fell in love after participating in a play together as depicted by “they never did show up at the cast party. One week later they were married.” (Vonnegut, 1970, p.26). Harry was attracted by the fact that no one had ever shown him love except Helen who gave him a present as a gesture of love, which aided in the breaking of the barrier that Harry had created towards love.

Love can be exhibited through many forms, starting from gestures to words. The way love is expressed is very important to many people and it can greatly influence their behaviors. The two stories used in this case exhibit different side of love. Sunday in the Park shows how love can turn into resentment in case one of the parties does not perform a task, as the other party would have preferred (Kaufman, 2004). Who Am I Now shows that the obstacles experienced at the early stages of a person’s growth can affect the person’s expression of love later in life but this can be changed easily by an event, which provides the love that this person has never experienced to them. In conclusion, many obstacles may stand on the way of love but the way people react to these obstacles depicts their feelings towards love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Kaufman, B. (2004). Sunday in the Park. Fort Smith, AR: McBride.

Vonnegut, K. (1970). Who Am I This Time? Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing, 1970