Jesse Stuart's "Love".

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, in the story "Love" by Jesse Stuart, the author uses the images of birth and death to emphasize the themes of suggested emotion and the common nature in animals and people. The paper discusses how the author first uses emotion in the title and then continues to suggest emotion through images and action to humanize the animals in the story. The paper also looks at how the narrator mentions many comparisons between animals and people, suggesting a common nature. Through both of these themes, the ideas of life / birth and death are included since everything is connected and nature is cyclical.

From the Paper:

"Emotion is clearly related to the themes of life and death in the story. When the narrator thinks first of a human female and then the snake fighting to save her babies, there is both guilt and sorrow in the tone of the passage; the words "agony" and then the narrators admittance, "it was silly of me to think such thoughts" show that he does not know what he should feel (291). The reader also sees the father's hate for the snake, when he calls it his enemy and then encourages the dog to kill it. Yet, when he sees the male snake seemingly grieving for his mate, even the father cannot hate it. The human emotion of grief that is projected onto the male snake makes it impossible for even the father to kill it. In sparing it, he is showing that he has gained some respect for nature, life, and death."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Stuart, Jesse. "Love." In Literary Criticism. Chapter 18. 289-292.

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