Alia Anima Means

Asher called me yesterday after his last fight. I can’t believe the villages’ top street karate fighter has finally realized his worth and stopped this nonsense. The vivid memory of the blood splattering from his mouth was stuck in my head. The people cheering, betting money, mixed with the smell of sweat and alcohol. I felt like I needed to wash myself with wipes and germ detergents. What I remember most was his head bobbing on the arena, his face drenched in blood and sweat. It was at this moment that I realized what he means to me. When I realized how much I care for him, how much I….Love Him. I never believed that I would fall in love, or rather even actually befriend someone, other than Sammie (more so befriend a guy). I actually made

The whole premise of his book, is to give advice to the “man who needs instruction in loving” (105). If love were something destined, the chase would simply be unnecessary, and the advice on how to love would be useless.

“One person's craziness is another person's reality.” – Tim Burton. We people have a tendency to live our life in suffer for the past because it’s terrifying to face the truth. Unaware that it affects our fellow human beings. Stephen King’s short story “The man who loved flowers” manages to blur the lines between normality and insanity while digging down in the fear of love.

Georgiana had always lived with the birthmark, and was quite fond of its charm. Many people in the town believe it was a fairy’s handprint left to sway all hearts; to them the mark only magnified her appeal. The mark’s charm had rarely been questioned by anyone other than the jealous women of the town, and its peculiar nature had once intrigued Aylmer and amplified his attraction to Georgiana. He begged for her hand in marriage, but soon after they were wed, he queried whether Georgiana had ever considered having the birthmark removed. She was hurt by the implication that the mark depreciated her and grew upset with her husband. As time passed, Aylmer continued to stare at the mark, unable to keep his eyes from wandering to it. This continued until Georgiana was no longer able to ignore the way his eyes were always fixated on this sole imperfection, the crimson hand that kept him up at night and plagued his dreams. She asked Aylmer to remove the mark, or take her life because she no longer wanted to live if she had to live with the mark. She preferred death to the harsh scrutiny from her husband.

After one of these failed attempts, Eli remarks: “I saw my bulky person in the windows of the passing storefronts and wondered, When will that man there find himself to be loved”(Dewitt 246)? All he wants is to find love, and even though has not found it yet,

In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s short story “The Birthmark,” Alymer and Georgiana, which could have been a sweet love story turns into a frightening experience. Alymer becomes obsessed with removing a small birthmark on Georgiana’s cheek. He insisted that it is the only think that keeps her from being beautiful. Alymer is a scientist and believes he can fix anything and is sure he can create a potion to fix her. Georgiana becomes upset by the comments made by her husband, because her previous boyfriends told her it added a charm. She hints to Alymer that the birthmark may be a connection between her and life. However, Alymer continues to complain about how awful it is. He dreams about her birthmark and cringes when it’s in sight. Georgiana loves Alymer

He stood there staring at me for a few seconds, and I was like, “What? What?”

In the polemic “Against Love”, Laura Kipnis considers love to be a mysterious force, which attaches to people as if it controls their thoughts and decisions. It is a capricious tyrant, who bring forth the tragedy for those failing to achieve such essential feeling. Still, artists create romantic poems about its cruelty while audiences enjoying watching the pain it gives to them. Ironically, through such pain, people yearn for a glimmer of brief happiness.

He smiled back at me and I wondered how it could affect me so much. I really wanted to kiss him, but I knew where it would lead, and I knew he had to go. So, we just looked at each other for a moment.

It was hell-like. My friends and I used to joke about how we’re going straight to hell because of the meanness intact with our personalities, but I think, I raced them there. It was infuriating and I was so anxious about my shortcomings. Was it my fault? I wanted to cry endlessly but I remembered his promise. A few months back, he gave me a silver commitment ring, engrossed with the words, “I’m willing to wait for it,” and that gave me hope. I don’t want to believe that it was faux, that he wasn’t really willing to wait for our love to prosper, to solidify, or to overcome our catches. Instead, I chose to believe that promise. As I quote Blair Waldorf again for the hundredth time, “If you really want something, don’t stop for anyone or anything until you get it.”

His middle-length hair as white as the snow, his gray eyes that looked like the clouds in the storm, it was a beauty that I didn't understand at that time. Even though he was smiling and had a gentle expression, his eyes was cold as the snow. It was filled with despair, sadness and a cruelness that would make anyone keep their distance. But…but…for me, I was entranced and wanted to know more. "Do you need a reason to continue living?" He reached out his hand to me with a smile. "Revenge? To get stronger? If you don't have a reason then that’s fine too. Be mine. Live for my

Max Shulman’s piece, “Love is a fallacy” expresses many arguments expressed during every day social interactions. In the piece, the author comes into contact with his roommate, Petey Bellows and a possible love interest, Polly Espy. The author makes many unjustified guess pertaining to their wisdom and intelligence, and these false pretenses contribute to his interactions with the two, and he aims to take advantage of the opportunity of manipulating the two into achieving his own selfish desires. His plan backfires, and he is forced to reconsider his actions. In the process, Max Shulman reveals that his piece is both anti-women, anti-men, and Shulman underestimates the intuitive and emotional aspects of love.

His idealized expectations disillusioned him and thus left him feeling great loss. It wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t triumph in his quest to impress the girl who lives in his neighborhood that made him feel this way, however, it was the fact that he had invested so much expectation and hope into this one pursuit that it destroyed his ability to ever look back at things the same way, it destroyed the innocent lens he had. Reality is a hard road to take and once it sets in, it can’t be ignored. To go back to childish beliefs of adventure and magic is only teasing and a waste of time wrapping up in the unreal.

It’s safe to say, meeting him under the moonlight beside the water, was the ideal way for me to meet the man who would ruin my life. Ariel, found me writing like a mad man beside a small creek that divided our campuses. He offered me lunch and I quickly refused. Much like most men, Ariel was self absorbed and had a raging superiority complex. He was the type of man who believed he could spark a flame in my heart and whisk me away into the depths of his soft, weak, yet beautiful heart. The poor man was determined to make me fall in love. Unfortunately for him, I do not believe in love. I never have, and I never will.

No doubt he has spent much of his time on studies rather than girls. When they embrace, he feels he can never let go; until he smells "the horrid stagnant smell of that water" from the pond. Both seem to stop and draw away from each other. Mabel had a wild, doubtful look about her; Joe could not interpret it. One reason he may have convinced himself that he loved her is because he did not like that look and wanted to stop it. "You love me?" she asks. He replies,"Yes." When Joe leaves to go back to the surgery, he kisses her "with his heart's painful kiss." But she breaks down sobbing about how she is so awful. Joe tries to convince her that he loves her and wants to marry her. She is not convinced. "I feel awful. I feel I'm horrible to you." "No, I want you, I want you." he says with a strange intonation. This makes her even more scared. She realizes then that she really does not love him. I believe this story is about two people with low self-esteem. They both need love and convince themselves to love the other. I do not believe this to be real love, because it did not last, and one cannot convince themselves to fall in love with another. I felt disenchanted after reading this story. It was a bit sad, seeing two people who need love but cannot find it even from each other. I wanted to find out who it was that had misled