Literature in the 1970’s

       When you read your typical, classical love story, you expect to read romantic phrases with sweet words, but Love Story by Erich Segal is the non-typical version, where the story represents two very different people who fall in love with each other. They may express their love in a rude, obscene manner, but Segal gets through to us that they don't on their words, but on their love itself.

The main characters: Jennifer Cavilleri, Oliver Barret IV, Oliver Barret III, Phil, Dr. Ackerson, and Raymond Stratton each help unwind the story with the help of the plot structure. Segal winds us in by starting things off with Oliver, a young man studying in Harvard, getting to know Jennifer, a snooty, cocky girl that is in love with music. Then he gets our attention by having them fall in love, in spite of all their differences. They want to get married, but Oliver III, who is extremely wealthy, disapproves. Both of them go through rough times, trying to get money for rent, but manage to love each other more and more each day, until they find out something that might jeopardize their marriage and lives. All of this takes place in NYC.

Segal sends his overall message the love does not love to be typical and sweet in order to be love by using diction. Frequent words that he uses throughout his work are words like: bastard, bitch, preppie, narcissist, and goddamn. The words he chooses are negative and are not normally used to express love for someone. An example of how he uses the word bitch and bastard is when he writes, Ò 'Hey listen, you bitch,' I said. 'What you bastard?' she replied. 'I owe you a helluva lot.' I said.Ó He also uses the word ÒpreppieÓ when he writes, ÒWouldja please watch your goddamn language, PreppieÓ and ÒOh, no Preppie. I'm smart and poor.Ó He also uses the word ÒgoddamnÓ to express his concern, like ÒCan't I take my goddamn wife to dinner if I want to?Ó Although the words that Segal chooses for the book tend to be negative, Jennifer and Oliver use it in a positive way as seen. To them the words ÒbitchÓ and Òbastard' are equivalent to the words ÒhoneyÓ or ÒsweetheartÓ. They normally use those negative words when they are trying to seduce each other or make a point about their love making the words ironic.

The universal message to the readers from Segal is that l love has no boundaries or limits as to who we fall in love with or how. We all are different, and thus have different ways of showing our love. Segal tells us that this is normal and wants us to not be discouraged by our differences.

Bibliography

“American Cultural History” Love Story College
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html 24 May 2009

“Erich Segal” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Segal 26 May 2009

“Love Story” Romantic Books
http://www.everythingvalentinesday.com/romantic-books/love-story.html 1 June 2009

“The Unknown” Erich Segal: Biography
http://adminboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=intere-sting&action=display&thread=4964 3 June 2009

 

Erich Segal in an interview.