Love & Relationships

The three works: E.E. Cummings’ “l(a”, William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just to Say,” and Louise Erdrich’s “Love Medicine” all discuss love, relationships and the effects of the two. “l(a” has an unconventional format, and compares the act of a sole leaf falling, to people who feel alone. “This Is Just to Say” is more direct. It seems to be a memo from the author to his wife, apologizing for eating her plums, and asking for forgiveness. Finally, “Love Medicine” is a short story about the love of a family, and two elderly people’s relationship issues.

E.E. Cummings had a strange but clever way of setting up his poem. For the most part, each line consisted of one syllable. This represented the division of the dropped leaf from the rest of the tree. Typically, leaves are connected to branches, and the rest of the tree – and depend on it for survival. So, when the leaf breaks of from the tree, it is separated and alone. This mimics how people feel when they are disconnected from others, and feel alone. Also, “one,” which is in the poem, is known as being the loneliest number, which adds to the overall theme. The fact that the reader has to assemble the poem and the meaning of it (rather than it being blatantly spelled out) strengthens the relationship between the poem/author and the audience.

“This Is Just to Say” by Williams, is less formal, and even seems like a note from the man to his wife. He tell her that he has eaten the plums that he assumed she was saving for breakfast. He then asked for forgiveness, but goes on to tell her how delicious they were. The man’s actions are selfish, and although he is sorry, he also seems to have a smug attitude, and relish the fact that he stole her mouthwatering breakfast. I think that this symbolizes how people often take things in life for granted, ie/ food and loved ones. I also thought that perhaps him eating the plums represented her taking her virginity. Maybe this was something she cherished and planned to save, but they gave in to temptation, and now he is apologizing. Regardless, it is about a seemingly simple action, which is really a deeper symbol of their relationship.

Finally, “Love Medicine” is about a young boy who is saddened about the lack of love in his grandparents relationship, and is determined to give them a love medicine. His grandfather is losing his mind, but also has feelings for another woman. His grandmother is obviously upset by this, but still loves her husband. Lipsha discovers that by feeding two people the hearts of geese, their love will be restored. So, when he cannot do so, he decided to feed them the heart of a turkey, blessed with holy water. Grandmother ate her half, but Grandfather would not chew his. He ended up choking on the heart. Lipsha had good intentions in trying to save his grandparents relationship. But it was not his place to do so; this fate was shown when his actions ended up killing his grandfather.

These pieces all had to do with how love (or lack of love) and relationships affect people’s actions. Love is something that cannot be meddled with. Often humans do things that they regret and want forgiveness from loved ones for doing – such as eating a plum, or having an affair. But the void of any love or relationship at all is the worst possibility, as seen with the leaf.