“The Love of My Life” is a fictional story by T. C. Boyle, an American short story writer, and novelist. The narrative presents the dramatic events in the lives of the two young characters, China and Jeremy, whose irresponsible behavior forced them to make a cruel life-changing decision and question the meaning of love. The following paper will analyze the theme of the story, the symbol, and the literary theory that might be used to critically read the story and understand its meaning.
The contemporary fiction genre determines the story’s close connection to the modern world with its realistic characters and an approachable theme. Common themes in literature, such as love, death, or loss, allow the reader to learn more about human similarities despite cultural differences (Kusch, 2016). The story’s main theme is teenage love in the form of an infatuation, while true love requires responsibility. At the beginning of the literary work, the reader learns about Jeremy’s belief in eternal and unconditional love shared by his lover. The character often expressed his love for China by saying, “I love you,” and she would do the same, as “a hundred times a day she said it, too” (Boyle, 2000). While the characters were confident in the eternity of their love, their irresponsible behavior challenged the strength of their feelings when they learned about China’s pregnancy.
The high-school couple could not risk losing the comfort of their current lives or taking responsibility for their actions, so they decided to hide the pregnancy and then murder the baby. At this point in the plot, love cannot be viewed as unconditional or eternal as it starts to fade. Jeremy began to notice the faults in his lover’s character, whom he described as “stupid” and “spoiled by her parents and their standard of living” (Boyle, 2000). The story ends after China agrees to testify against her lover in court. The event signifies the decline of the loving relationship between the young characters, as China mentions in the final lines that Jeremy “was the love of her life” (Boyle, 2000). Overall, the author questions the validity of teenage love by utilizing the theme that displays the transformation of the characters’ feelings from unconditional love to indifference caused by irresponsibility and guilt.
The main symbol in the literary work is a tree that transforms its appearance across different settings throughout the story depending on the situation or the period in the characters’ lives. According to Kusch (2016), symbols “create a shorthand for referring to the larger concept” and “translate that concept into a tangible object” (p. 48). Thus, the tree might be viewed as a symbolic tree of life representing the characters’ personal development based on a series of life-changing decisions. The story begins with the description of the trees covered in ice, which might be interpreted as a calm, stable, and dormant period in the story without any dramatic events or changes.
The next symbolic setting was in early spring, when the leaves on trees turned green too early, which might be a reference to China and Jeremy’s premature introduction to adulthood and future parenthood. The street was decorated with blossoms of “fruit trees in the development” when Jeremy told his lover to relax and “experience” life (Boyle, 2000). Along with the green color’s symbolic meaning of fertility, the blossoming trees symbolize the beginning of the new life signifying the downfall of the young lovers caused by their immaturity and lack of responsibility.
The story might be read using the literary theory of formalism, which emphasizes the role of the form and literary devices in the text. The interpretive approach concentrates on the objective analysis of the literary devices, as the Formalists deny the importance of cultural context and the author’s personal or professional background (Brewton, 2020). Since the story is rich in literary devices, such as foreshadowing and the aforementioned symbolism, the analysis of its form might help the reader to understand the author’s intent and the meaning of the work. For example, while watching a horror movie, Jeremy said that “teens have sex, and then they pay for it in body parts” (Boyle, 2000). Jeremy’s words serve as a reference for future events crucial for the development of the theme and might teach the reader about the consequences of irresponsibility. Thus, the formalistic approach allows the reader to detect the foreshadowing at the beginning of the story, which gives some hints about China’s pregnancy and the attempts to get rid of the baby.
“The Love of My Life,” the title and reoccurring phrase in the story, is a serious statement that contrasts with the author’s choice of immature characters, whose actions express infatuation rather than love. Focusing on formal aspects of the literary work, such as the repetition of a particular phrase, helps the reader to understand the moral or social mission of the author (Bertens, 2017). As the characters are still alive, the choice of past tense in the phrase “he was the love of her life” does not make sense (Boyle, 2000). It possibly translates the author’s message reminding the reader that promises of eternal love are meaningless without responsibility. Overall, critical reading using a formalistic approach and the analysis of the theme and the symbol of the story facilitated the understanding of the story’s meaning and the author’s moral message.
References
Bertens, H. (2017). Literary theory: The basics (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
Boyle, T. C. (2000). The love of my life. The New Yorker. Web.
Brewton, W. (2020). Literary theory. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Web.
Kusch, C. (2016). Literary analysis: The basics. Routledge.