"The Tree of Life" (1909) by Gustav Klimt
The narrator tells her children that people have many soulmates, that they come in the forms of husband and wives as well as best friends and dogs, and that each of them have a quest to complete
What is the value in believing in the traditional view of soulmates?
What is the value in the narrator's view of soulmates?
Is her vision undermined by the image of the world as "a giant ball of tangled string. Lines getting crossed. People all knotted up with the wrong people" (151)? Does that image suggest that she and Sam were the wrong people for each other?
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The traditional view of soulmates can be very comforting to people experiencing either breakups or being single. The idea that somewhere out there is someone who will love you and all your flaws, that you will love them back in kind, and that you are destined for each other can be reassuring after your 5th failed date in the past two weeks. I think a lot of people picture love as being easy. The beauty of love to me is the idea that it will be hard in certain moments, but so worth it that you last through it anyway. However, it also puts a lot of value in dating and marriage. I appreciate the inclusion of the narrator’s idea that there are soulmates in other, non-romantic walks of life too. There are friends I have that I will care about forever, but wouldn’t date. That doesn’t make the bond any weaker. Best friends are the closest to true love most people will ever get, and part of it might be because there isn’t the expectation that romance brings.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think this concept is undermined by the ball of string metaphor; it’s more realistic. It helps convey that a person will rarely match with their important people the first time and puts that responsibility to the future, where the perfect connection is waiting and always possible. My parents have been together for 20 years and they both met for the first time when they were engaged to other people. Ooo! Drama! One of my grandparents divorced and remarried, and divorced again. Maybe they’ll fit in a couple more cycles before they find the one. That’s life! It’s awesome. It’s not sad to me that people break up and move on; I think it’s wonderful that there can be so many people to find love with throughout different parts of life.