Lasting Love by Guy de Maupassant

Penetrante, Karen Anne O. Creative Writing
ABE 3-1 Prof. Belen De Asis

Lasting Love
By Guy De Maupassant
(A Review)

“A man can fall in love only once in his entire life because the other emotions are just product of forced attraction.” -Albert Einstein The short story entitled Lasting Love by Guy De Maupassant is a reflection of unrequited love. It also argued if the strong passion among people called “love” can only happen once in a lifetime. The first idea was about the main character a poor Madam chair-mender who has grown to love somebody for fifty-five years, and nobody else. She was deeply enamoured by this man who has never reciprocated her love despite all the sacrifices she has made, and despite the length of time she has been waiting for him. In the story I was also questioned: “do women love more than men love women?” "There is no denying the fact, only women know how to love." The story also emanates a form of feminism. The whole story shows how soft-hearted most women are especially when they are enchanted by love. The story seemed to say that women are more vulnerable to being foolishly captivated when it comes to love. When females love, they give their everything. Once they fall, it would be very hard for them to get up. Loving here is defined as sharing with an open hand, giving until it hurts. Women, being emotional creatures are more likely to be swooned over by the feelings and are more likely to expose themselves to being hurt. The whole point of the story for me was that “love” should never be confused with just mere passion. Passion needs ignition. It needs sustenance from another force. But real love is best defined when you do things unconditionally, despite the pain, the many hurts just for one second of happiness. It makes you bear all things. It can make you do the foolish things, just because you care for the other person. It never expects anything in return but it only wants to give and show itself. In some way, the love in the story has a touch of platonic love, like a form of chaste love. Love was argued to happen only once, and once it comes it endures until the end. It is real love if it endures, like a real jewel that continues to shine despite time and circumstances. I also think that in love, all is fair. I do not think there is any superior sex when it comes to love or there is somebody who loves more, I think they just love differently. It would be very hard to quantify an emotion very special to human beings-which is love.