Essay on Literature and Aspects of the Human Experience

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Pages: 7

Literature and Aspects of the Human Experience Literature offers a unique view into the human experience. Writers share their ideas about life through language, literary devices, and imagery. The human experience of love is one that every person can relate to. Three examples of literature that share this theme of love are: “A Rose for Emily”, “Love Song”, and “A Doll’s House”. Although some of the stories deal with family and parental love, this paper will focus on the aspect of romantic love. In the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner romantic love was between Emily and the doomed Homer Barron; the poem “Love Song” by Joseph Brodsky gives the declarations of a man in love; and finally in the drama “A Doll’s House”
734). Brodsky’s ideas of romantic love give readers a picture of how complex love can be. “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen gives another sad account of the complexities of romantic love. “A Doll’s House” is a drama play that centers on the character of Nora Helmer. Nora goes through tremendous change in the course of the play as her ideas about love transform. Nora starts Act 1 as a childish girl trying to please her husband, Torvald; in Act 2 Nora acts out of desperation to save her marriage; then in Act 3 Nora comes to the realization that her husband never truly loved her at all (Bradford, 2012). Nora’s ideas of love are clouded by her relationship with her father. She carries on this relationship with her husband living as a source of entertainment and possession rather than a loving partner. Nora explains this when she says “I have existed to perform tricks for you, Torvald…I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa’s doll-child…I thought it great fun when you played with me…that is what our marriage has been” (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2011, p. 838). Ibsen portrays the romantic love between Nora and Torvald as being childish and confused. When the character of Nora realizes that she does not really love Torvald she leaves to find someone who loves her for who she is. The connection between these three examples of