Love Conquers All

Virgil said, "Love conquers all things, let us too surrender to love". Most people have experienced the overwhelming feeling of love, thereby understanding that in the end, nothing will stand in its way. Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Yzierska's Bread Givers, and Hurston's Their Eyes were Watching God, and dorm life show that love truly conquers all obstacles. In The Scarlet Letter, love conquers the pressures of society, while in The Great Gatsby, love overcomes the test of time. In Bread Givers, love triumphs over major differences caused by a wide generation gap and in Their Eyes were Watching God, love overpowers the forces of nature and disease. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester's love for Mr. Dimmesdale overcomes society's pressure and keeps her from incriminating him as her lover. When the people call for her to "‘Speak; and give your child a father!'" (Hawthorne, 74) she still refuses to give the name of the father of her child. "‘I will not speak!' answered Hester, turning pale as death…‘And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!'" (Hawthorne, 74). The power of Hester's love gives her the strength to restrain herself even when the crowd entreats her to help her child, if not herself. Even when Dimmesdale, her lover, pleads with her to speak the name of her lover, she does not. "‘If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace…I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!'" (Hawthorne, 73). Hester's love for Mr. Dimmesdale is so powerful that even his appeals cannot sway her in her determination. Hester's love was so mighty that it persisted over all obstacles. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's love for Daisy allows him to overcome time, to find her and resume a relationship after college and five years away in the army. Because Gatsby loves Daisy so strongly, and believes that she loves him as well, "He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she