The novel, Mother Tongue, is a great example of the misuse of love today. The author, Demetria Martinez, tells the tale of a woman that falls in love with a Salvadoreo refugee. Jos Luis is a soldier in the Salvadorian army that flees to the United States where he begins a love affair with a young woman, Mary. From my prospective, the emotions they shared were not of love, but rather emotions that arose from false pretenses. Like so many relation-ships in our society today, the word love is taken for granted. Relationships are embarked upon without consideration of the repercussions. Divorce rates are a great example how relationships are not being started for the right reasons. Love is abused because of humans' innate desire to love, uncontrollable feeling to search for it, and be loved despite their failure to develop the necessary foundations for true love.The yearning for affection is one of life's greatest mysteries. This longing has led to many misconceptions of love. The greatest factor in the delusion of love is lust; often the emotions that arise from eroticism are mistaken for the true euphoric experience that is true love. Another factor that contributes to false love is loneliness, which is a feeling that all people know and avoid tremendously. As in Mary's case, her judgement was clouded by her misinterpretation of what she believed to be love. Mary was unable to realize that what appeared to be love was not truly love, " I courted disaster, set out to love a man I knew full well would go away." (Pg. 27) The combination of lust, loneliness, and Mary's undying need for love that created a rude awakening for her. Mankind's intense yearning for love leads him to what seems to be an unending search for it. Man spends too much time searching for love; but not fully understanding its purpose. Love is a gift from one person to another, and thus it has the ability to posses many different meanings. Often, in search of ...
