Due date 11/14/2016 before 6:00 pm

Mehmet Barin

ENGL 1302

Professor Broussard

November 5, 2016

The Love of My Life

The love of my life is a story about two high school sweethearts, China and Jeremy that starts during their life in high school and culminates with them in prison. The story depicts the life events of all those stages of life in 19 pages. The story brings about various topics. However the most conspicuous topic is love. Love has been woven into the entire plot of the story, and therefore it will be the topic of my essay.

Love is the feeling of constant affection for a person. The theme of love has been extensively covered all through the story. The story provides an interesting description of love. According to the teenagers, love is described in the actions one does. The two would kiss whenever they met even though one had just left the room a few moments earlier because that was love. They went to have a five-day getaway on their own without the disruption of their parents’ schools and books. Jeremy did not even bring a fishing rod to the trip because that was love (Boyle, (137)). They tend to believe that doing certain activities like always hanging out together, telling each other I love you, reading to each other and having private getaways is the true definition of love. While they were correct on the forms of expression of love, they did not understand the real nature of true love.

Love is also portrayed in the text by Jeremy throughout China’s pregnancy and the hearing. Jeremy does not leave China alone, even when she does not agree to go to the hospital to have an abortion. He fondly calls her more than the moon during the course of her pregnancy in reference to the poem she had given him (Boyle, (140)). He tolerates her arguments and fights and does not break up with her, even when it becomes unbearable for him. When China insists on delivering the child in the motel room, he ends up agreeing because he loves her. He knows that a hospital would be a better option but because he wants to show that he loves her, he agrees to help her deliver. He is scared throughout the delivery, but he remains strong for her. He helps her deliver the child. Throughout the hearing, he does not blame China for the death of her child. He does not tell the interrogators that she told him to get rid of the child but insists that it was his business with China. During the hearing, even when the judge said first-degree murder, he didn't flinch. His eyes were locked on hers as if nothing in the world mattered but her.

Their idea of love is contradicted. The first instance is when China got pregnant. China was not ready to go to the doctor to get an abortion. She claimed that she did not wish to be discovered by anyone. Jeremy at this time did not see the love of his life. He saw her as pigheaded, stubborn and irrational (Boyle, (141)). He figured that she was spoiled by her parents and their standards of living and the socioeconomic expectations of their class. He thought that she was stupid but still claimed to love her. Love is where one accepts the other person’s flaws and decisions, and continues to show the same care and affection as before. This was however not demonstrated during the pregnancy. Jeremy saw no pleasure to see her in that motel room. They fought, wrangled and debated. They could not agree on anything anymore. It was clear that there was no more love in their relationship, and yet Jeremy claimed that he still loved her. So it begs the question, how could he love her if he fought and debated with her, and did not find her presence to be appealing?

China’s view on love is also contradictory. On the night her water broke, she forced him to rent a motel room to help her deliver the baby on the basis of love. She told him that she would go off and bleed out in the woods before she could go to a hospital. She inferred that if Jeremy loved her, he would rent the motel room and help her deliver the baby. Her view on love was distorted since she did not consider Jeremy’s position. She also asked Jeremy to get rid of her baby girl (Boyle, (144)). Is one supposed to do everything their partner says because they love them? China also shows a contradictory approach f love toward the end of the story. When both of them are under house arrest, she claims to love Jeremy still. She remembers the night she and Jeremy had started going together, and she closed her eyes and clung to him as if it was all that mattered. However, she plans to testify against Jeremy so that her case can be dropped. Her actions do not seem to match her feelings of love toward Jeremy.

Jeremy still loved China. In spite of all the fights and seeing her in a different light, he still stood by her side. He helped her to go through the delivery and get rid of the child not because he was willing to do so, but because he loved her and she had asked him (Boyle, (144)). China also loved Jeremy. She insisted on not going to the hospital because she cared about their future. She did not want to tarnish their names by going to the hospital where they could be identified. She, therefore, insisted on having the delivery in the motel. When she agreed to testify against Jeremy, she did so under pressure. Her lawyer and parents had probably insisted that she takes the claim. She wanted to talk to Jeremy but was not allowed to. Her desire to talk to him shows the love she still had for him. She had sent him a note during the hearing reading more than the moon, showing her love for him (Boyle, (148)).

The story has depicted the theme of love throughout its plot. The meaning of love has however been contradicted in numerous instances. We are shown the actions of love that Jeremy and China showed each other while still in high school and what Jeremy tolerated and did, for his love for China. We are also shown the contradictory actions of love where Jeremy does not enjoy China's company anymore and when China forces Jeremy to help her deliver and to get rid of the baby and then testifies against him. The love in this text turns sour at the end.

Work cited

Boyle, T C. T.C. Boyle Stories II: the collected stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print.