Essay On Love DoesnT Always Conquer All

In the short story, Cathedral by Raymond Carver, the word “blind” acquires different meanings. The unnamed narrator is metaphorically blind; he can look at the surface of everything but not see what is inside. Although the narrator can listen to conversations, he cannot understand the deeper emotional context the conversation might hold, compared to Robert, who is visually impaired but can truly listen and understand. It is not until the end of the story that the narrator metaphorically opens his eyes, with assistance from Robert.

Being blind manifest itself in a lot of ways. The most harmful type of this condition may be figurative blindness of one’s own situations and ignorance towards the feelings of others. Within Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral,” the narrator’s emotional and psychological blindness is at once obvious. The narrator faces many issues as well as the turn-around experienced at the culmination of the tale are the main ideas for the theme of this story; and these ideas aid the narrator in eventually develop the character transformation by simply regarding the literal blind man in a positive light.

Like his feelings, he does not grasp what Mangan is completely. Joyce describes her in bursts, “her figure defined by the light of the half-opened door … [h]er dress swung as she moved her body, and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side” (1). The description is an idea of the girl but not the girl as a whole. She has no personality, no hopes and dreams, dictated to the reader. Mangan is simply the embodiment of temptation for the young narrator. The temptation, however, turned into pure lust at the thought of her since “[h]er image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance” (1). The daydreams are not as innocent as Joyce would like to believe. They are the sexual longings of an adolescent boy. It becomes so overwhelming that when he is alone he comes to his sexual peak in a very religious manner: “All my senses seem to desire to veil themselves and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I press the palms of my hands together until they trembled, murmuring: ‘O love! O love!’ many times” (2). This chaste, yet sexual, action brings him into the honeymoon of adulthood. Mangan “[a]t last she spoke to [him]” (2), only due to him finally reaching adulthood status. She finishes her place as the serpent giving the narrator the fruit of knowledge by tempting him with the idea of the Araby. She speaks of it being a wonderful place, while spinning her silver bracelet around her wrist, like

The narrator is deeply infatuated with Mangan’s sister and she is always on his mind. He states, “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.” (Joyce 2). The quote talks about the narrator’s smitten feelings for a girl only referred to as Mangan’s sister. It is evident that she is always on his mind and she naturally flows through his mind unconsciously. He is also very grief-stricken at times, which surprises him. The fact that Mangan’s sister does not have a name clearly reveals that the narrator is in love with what she represents, physical beauty. This is something rather mutual for any adolescent boy experiencing sexual beauty for the first time. He is stuck in his own little world of infatuation where she is always present and he also feels sad as he cannot convey his feelings of love. Also, after the narrator decided that he will bring something for Mangan’s sister as a gift from the bazaar, Araby, he is overcome with joy. He states, “What innumerable follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school.” (Joyce 2). The quote

“But I can see. I can see everything. I can see things that Mom and Dad can’t. Or won’t “. (page 4) In the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor, Paul Fisher is an insecure, visually impaired boy with a low self esteem, who is stuck in the shadows of his older brother Erik’s “ football dream “, and can see beyond sight in ways that others can’t and into reality in search for his identity. Even though Paul starts off as a visually impaired boy with low self esteem and cruel nicknames, he learns that only he decides how people can treat him, and the true story of what actually happened to his eyes.

“Araby,” a complex short story by James Joyce is narrated by a mature man who reflects upon an adolescent boy’s transition into adulthood. The story focuses on the events that brought the main character to face his disconnect of reality. Love plays a distinct role in the boy’s delusion of reality, which Joyce relays from the beginning of the story. Minor characters, such as Mangan’s sister, The priest, Mrs. Mercer, and his uncle hold a vital role in the boy’s shattered innocence. Joyce uses these characters to introduce to the boy the hypocrisy, vanity and illusion of adulthood by highlighting their faults and later linking them to his reality.

The idea of blindness in Carver’s Cathedral gains additional meaning throughout the story as we learn more about the character Robert and the blind man himself. The story begins in first person, depicting Roberts disdain for the blind and his smallness of character. As a juxtaposition we are introduced to the blind man who is evolved in character, and has a substantially important relationship with Roberts’s wife. As the story progresses and Robert has more interaction with the blind man, he himself begins to evolve through time spent while his wife is asleep. As the story comes to an end, the blind man has affected the character of Robert to the point that his inward blindness has been exposed. This story shows that blindness does not necessarily

Love is the common reason that both protagonists undertake their respective journeys that begin with hope and optimism. In “Araby,” the Narrator confesses his adoration of Mangan’s sister: “My body was like a harp and her words and

The narrator anxiously anticipates growing up and sees it as the only way to truly get what he desires, Mangan’s sister, as seen in “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play” (Joyce 215). There is a romanticized vision of Araby, as well as adulthood, that is shattered by the harsh reality he sees at the bazaar, which is seen in “Remembering with difficulty why I had come I went over to one of the stalls and examined porcelain vases and flowered tea-sets” (Joyce 217). Once the disappointment and harsh reality of Araby, or rather adulthood, sets in the narrator realizes that his ambition and selfishness caused him to lose his childhood which can be seen in, “ ...I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce 218). The narrator regrets being so anxious to grow up and being blinded by vanity and

The story “Cathedral” demonstrates that lack of sight does not necessarily prevent one from perceiving things as they are, or live their life to the fullest. In the story, a middle-age blind man, who is a friend to the narrator’s wife, and used to be her boss at one point, visits the narrator and his wife. The narrator has never interacted with blind people before, and all he knew about blind people was what he had seen on television. Blind people are stereotypically portrayed on television as slow moving, dull people, who never laugh. Based on this perception, the narrator was reluctant to meet the blind man and doubted whether they were going to connect. This is evident when the narrator states, “I wasn’t enthusiastic about his visit. He was no one I knew. And his being blind bothered me” (Carver 1).

"At night in my bedroom and buy day in the classroom, her image came between me and the page I strove to read… I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me child's play, ugly monotonous child's play (Norton Anthology 2238)." To make things worse, he can not possibly expect to have any control over the girl's feelings. As it is, he can barely speak to the girl, and when she finally does talk to him he is overcome with confusion. He is so desperate for recognition and care, that when he concludes that Mangan's sister is a potential source, he becomes fixated with her to the point of alienating himself from everything else in his life.

Love has many different meanings to different people. For a child, love is what he or she feels for his mommy and daddy. To teenage boy, love is what he should feel for his girlfriend of the moment, only because she says she loves him. But as we get older and "wiser," love becomes more and more confusing. Along with poets and philosophers, people have been trying to answer that age-old question for centuries: What is love?

Love is difficult to define, difficult to measure, and difficult to understand. Love is what great writers write about, great singers sing about, and great philosophers ponder. Love is a powerful emotion, for which there is no wrong definition, for it suits each and every person differently. Whether love is between family, friends, or lovers, it is an overwhelming emotion that can be experienced in many different ways.

Love is a powerful feeling; it makes you do crazy thing. Many people spend years trying to find it, others give up thinking they’ll never find it. Love has been defined as an intensive feeling of a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone. Of course, Love doesn 't have to romantic and/or sexual. People who are ace, as in asexual, aromantic and agender, can still be in relationships that are satisfying for them without the needs of a romantic relationship. Familial love is also non-romantic-sexual. However, in this paper, we will be talking about romantic-sexual love, what it is, and why I believe it’s so important to understand and experience.

Love is an abundant emotion that has different degrees. There is familial love, friendly love, unconditional love, and of course romantic love. Romantic love will be the superstar of this article. Romantic love may be around every corner whether between an old couple or a young teenage romance. However, love is not the easiest thing to attain. It is such a simple concept, though a difficult thing to actually have a person’s hands on.