When Two Become One:
Expanding the Self
to Include the Other
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. ”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), English poet
The best-known love story of modern times may be Erich Segal's (1970) Love Story. In this 20-million-copy best-seller, Oliver Barrett IV is a Harvard ice-hockey jock born into family money. The great-grandson of the man after whom a colossal dormitory and several other campus buildings are named, Oliver is ambivalent about his family's in-your-face Harvardism. Moreover, he positively loathes being programmed into the Barrett tradition: “It's all crap” as he unambiguously puts it. Jenny Cavilled, on the other hand, is a sarcastic Radcliff music major with gorgeous legs (by Oliver's account). Her mother's death in a car crash left her to be raised by her roughhewn, big-hearted, pastry-chef father (whom she lovingly calls “Phil”) and welcoming neighbors in Cranston, Rhode Island.
Oliver and Jenny meet in the Radcliff library. From the word go, she calls him “preppie”; he calls her “snotty Radcliff bitch. ” A few dates later, however, opposites have attracted, and Oliver utters those immortal words: “I think … I'm in love with you. ” Despite initially telling him he's “full of shit, ” the couple soon marry, though without the blessing of Oliver's father, “Old Stonyface” (“Marry her now, and I will not give you the time of day”).
At their do-it-yourself wedding, Oliver and Jenny stare blissfully into each other's eyes, while she recites a sonnet from Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
-313-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Experiments with People: Revelations from Social Psychology.
Contributors: Robert P. Abelson - Author, Kurt P. Frey - Author, Aiden P. Gregg - Author.
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Place of publication: Mahwah, NJ.
Publication year: 2004.
Page number: 313.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
One moment ...
- Georgia
- Arial
- Times New Roman
- Verdana
- Courier/monospaced
Reset