TUESDAY: 7-24-07

Hisaye Yamamoto: "Seventeen Syllables"
Romantic love in this short story wasn't really a romantic narrative. I wasn't really feeling the romance anywhere, actually. It dealt with the break-up of an arranged marriage, that Rosie thought most of her life was a happy one. She turns to Jesus when the break-up becomes too much to handle. Here she is starting this new relationship, falling in love for the first time, and her mother is warning her off of getting married. The idea in the story, of comparing your relationship to that of anther's (like your parents) is an interesting one. There's this saying that women look for men like their brothers and fathers. They gravitate to them. Another saying, look at a woman's mother, because that's who she'll be at her age. These sayings, along with the story, furl together to make one interesting point. A person can't help but compare relationships to ones they have known already in their lives. Whether it is their own or anther's. So, Rosie seeing her parent's relationship crumbling, and having her mom tell her marriage is a bad idea, is making things a little difficult for Rosie and Jesus. The timing is pretty awful. However, you don't know what Rosie decides to do, and I tend to think she follows her heart. Young love almost demands it.

Alice Childress: "Men In Your Life"
I really liked this short story. It was humorous to read about the girl not liking her friends boyfriend. Who hasn't been there before??? It was gratifying to read further on though, that the bad mouthing friend was ignored though. You really can't listen to other people, you have to listen to yourself, trust your own instincts, and make your own mistakes. That's life. The girl spoke of how she likes to be with this less than perfect person because it made her feel better about herself. I would have to agree with the author here. That's kind of sad, but again, pretty true. It's hard to be in a relationship where you're not pretty equally matched in looks and personalities. It festers distrust and jealousies. Also, she didn't want a man who would take care of her financially but ignore her emotionally. I thought that line was pretty true too. I want to be a teacher, and there's not much money there. My previous boyfriend wanted to be a social worker, my dad said we'd be the poorest people on earth. However, it has never been about money for me. Enough to get by with a little cushion for emergencies is good enough. I would much rather have someone that I loved, worry about being poor for the rest of my life, and spend it with a man who gives all of himself to me. Just like in the story.

Both of these stories are non-traditional romances, and neither one followed the idea of a romance narrative. They dealt with the harsh realities of love, and made no other pretenses.