Paper Summary:

This paper explores the concept that love as portrayed in literature may affect one's personal expectations of romance. The paper analyzes an article by Robert J. Sternberg, who suggests that individuals can write their own love stories. Additionally, he cites the impact of childhood stories of love on adults' expectations. Sternber's article cites three literary works--a poem by James Dickey entitled "Cherrylog Road," a short story by Susan Glaspell entitled, "A Jury of Her Peers", and the famous play by Oscar Wilde, "The Importance of Being Earnest." In each of these works an important message about love is conveyed.

From the Paper:

"Within literature there are countless replayed stories of romantic or sometimes not so romantic love. The stories we see in our heads, as children that dictate our expectations of the future are according to Sternberg reflective of how our lives, and more specifically our love lives will eventually be played out. Literature is a reflection of the stories we know of love, the good the bad and the indifferent, through the eyes of the writer and through the memories of the reader. "At some level, lay people recognize what many psychologists don't: that the love between two people follows a story. If we want to understand love, we have to understand the stories that dictate our beliefs and expectations of love." (Sternberg 52)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beckson, Karl. "Essays on Oscar Wilde." English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 47.1 (2004): 103-16.
• Carpenter, Martha C. "Susan Glaspell's Fiction: 'Fidelity' as American Romance." Twentieth Century Literature 40.1 (1994): 92-17.
• Dickey, James :"Cherrylog Road"
• Flora, Joseph M., and Robert Bain, eds. Fifty Southern Writers after 1900: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
• Glaspell, Susan "A Jury of Her Peers"

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