“Coming, Aphrodite!” by Willa Cather is a story that portrays the elements of a romance. A definition of Romance is a strong, sometimes short-lived attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm for something. This definition describes the relationship between Don Hedger and Eden Bower. Don, who is a painter, was dark and quiet. He rejected fame and didn’t need fortune to be successful, he painted for “painters,--haven’t been born.” (37) Contrastingly, Eden was light and free spirited. She went out into the world to meet new people and to become known. Because the both of them were from totally opposite worlds, their attraction sparked like fireworks. They both were young artists wanting success and wealth out of life, but in different
At other times he really seemed to be unsure of whether he wanted a relationship or just a something to relieve him of his boring life. He felt that she knew nothing about art as he says that “…how unreasonable he had been in expecting a Huntington girl to know anything about pictures;..” (39). He was also contempt toward her and her belief on what real success was. Despite the fact that Don showed so much emotion toward Eden, I think that she was more concerned with the highest degree of fame one could achieve. I don’t think that her feelings toward Don were truly about him, but about his talent and how far it could get him if he would just allow it. “She had expected that the tidings of a prospective call from the great man would be received very differently, and had been thinking as she came home in the stage how, as with a magic wand, she might gild Hedger’s future, float him out of his dark hole on a tide of prosperity, see his name in the papers and his pictures in the windows on Fifth Avenue.” (38) A Romance also portrays the natural. Natural is defined as a person or thing considered to have a natural aptitude. Don and Eden both possess a natural talent for art; Don as a painter and Eden as a singer. Most artists can be described as passive aggressive, while entertaining artists are almost always driven and active. These are traits