Pattern Of Love By Irwin Shaw

In the short story, “Pattern of Love” by Irwin Shaw, the story portrays how one’s outward appearance is often different from their inner nature. Katherine, one of the three protagonists, is used to acquiring what she wants. Katherine, with rosy cheeks, blue eyes, and red lips, causes all of the boys to instantaneously be infatuated with her looks. She may be alluring and powerful on the outside, but inside, she is the opposite. While Katherine is trying to pursue Harold, another main character who has absolutely no interest in her, he realizes, "it's hard to tell things sometimes . . . by the way people act” (Shaw 56) One may act nice, but in reality their personality is erroneous. Just like Katherine may act nice and may look powerful
on the outside, in the inside Katherine is greedy and vengeful. On the contrary, Harold is shy, weak, has glasses, and likes to play the violin.
Overall, he is a stereotypical nerd. Even though Harold is weak on the outside, at least he has a powerful personality on the inside. The total opposite of Harold, Charley, is a very athletic, strong, and influential being, is like the other boys, infatuated with Katherine. Even after Charley thinks he gives everything to Katherine, Katherine still loses interest in him. Charley, being impulsive, comes to the conclusion that Harold is the reason for this situation. The reality is that Katherine likes to have people chasing after her, and when Harold rejects Katherine multiple times, she cannot accept the fact that Harold is not infatuated with her, so she tries to change his thoughts. Charley, of course perceives this in the incorrect way, and decides to fight Harold. When Charley reaches the pace where Harold lives, Harold has two options; either to face Charley or stay back in his house. Since Harold is intelligent, he realizes that whether it is now or later, he still has to face Charley’s wrath, so he decides to face it now. During the fight,"Charley looked at Harold, eye closed, nose swollen and to one side, hair sweated and muddy, mouth all gore and mud, but the face, the spirit behind it, calm, unmoved" (64) Harold shows true bravery during this fight. To be powerful, one does not need to be physically strong like Charley, they need to be mentally and emotionally strong like
Harold. Charley is popular because of the fact that he is the 8th grade president, captain of the baseball team, and has a large amount of followers who look up to him. He is also a strong fighter who has won 50 fights. When he is fighting Harold, something suddenly ticks inside of Charley, "He, Charley Lynch, victor in fifty more desperate more battles, who had shed no tear since the time he was spanked at the age of four, was weeping uncontrollably, his body shaken with sobs, his eyes hot and smarting" (64). While Charley is crying, he realizes that he, on the contrary to the belief, has no control over himself and no control over others. Overall, the author, Irwin Shaw portrays how looks can be deceiving.