Tim O’Brian’s “Love” is possibly one of the most emotional
things I’ve read in a few months or so.
I’m literally stunned that O’Brian was able to fit such a movement of
emotions in les that four pages. The
story is a little out of place, being about O’Brian going to visit Jimmy Cross
many years after the war. In the story,
Jimmy Cross explains how he got a new portrait of Martha, simaler to the one he
had burned years ago. The story went
that he went back to the college campus in order to visit Martha again. He talks to Martha about how he had debated
making a big move on her a previous time he had gone to see her, but she reacts
rather strangely by putting him off, saying something along the lines of “That’s
something all men do.” I was a bit
confused at this even though I am fully aware of the fact that Martha had never
really responded to the fact that Jimmy Cross had a strong love for her. What did she mean by, “The things men do”? There’s a lot of questions there and I’m
hoping if anybody is reading this, they could possibly provide some clarity on
it. Anyways, the writing style of “Love”
really clicked with me, as I found it extremely easy to understand and it was
actually enjoyable to read. As far as
the writing structure goes, it was fairly normal until around midway through
when it was interrupted by a narrative descprition of the time Martha gave Jimmy
Cross a new portrait of herself. I
really liked this because it felt like (and obviously was) just a story being
told inside of a story. Can’t really
explain why I like those so much, but I certainly do. Anyhow, that’s about as far as anything I
could find remarkable about the writing style of the story; I really enjoyed
it.
"Love' is a story that deeply concerns me. O'Brien successfully conveys his own horror by making us a witness to the story that's being told.
ReplyDeleteThere is an instant air of skepticism that follows when the character of Jimmy Cross refers to O'Brien with, "You writer types," he said, "you've got long memories." Cross’s story takes an unsettling turn and suddenly we aren’t sure what kind of story he’s telling us. Conversely, we do know what we wants us to believe he is telling us. Cross tells the narrator that, “he'd almost done something very brave." He later instructs O’Brien to make him out to be a hero. In a way, O’Brien keeps this promise, but ultimately he is true to the story.
The definition of Bravery becomes perverted here—as are things done in the name of Love. These are both used as justifications for desires people aim themselves at—with no intention of stopping. One starts to question if such concepts exist at all.