Definition Essay Love

Lauren Porter

Professor Monds

English 1302

February 4, 2017

What is Love?

Love is universal. At some point in one’s life, love will be experienced. The gesture is not only inevitable, but also a necessity. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love is essential for the growth and development of the human intellect, ranking as the third fundamental need, following physiological and safety needs, on Maslow’s pyramid (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). Love is a topic everyone can relate to, so it is often written of. However, what is love exactly? Well the Cambridge Dictionary defines love as a verb in which one has a strong affection for someone, which can be combined with a strong romantic attraction (Cambridge Dictionary). Love, a strong

However, love is not always perceived, or received, as it should be. Parents don’t always love their children, groups often ostracize an individual because they are different, and lovers don’t always love each other back. This creates a connotation. Children are first taught the meaning of love in the home setting, but if their is no strong affection between the parent and the child, then that child will associate love with yelling, harsh comments, or abuse. They will then go on to express their learned version of love in future relationships, and consider their behavior to be tough love, but in reality, it’s not love at all. In reality, those people are unable to express love because they have not been shown the proper way, but instead, they carry their heartache and pass it on to the people they’re surrounded by. Kate Chopin understood the concept of heartbreak and emphasized the irony of this love connotation in her short story called “The Story of an Hour.” Through her character’s actions and the mood she creates, Chopin is

Chopin was brought up in what was probably one of America’s most devastating eras- the Civil War. Eleven year old Catherine witnessed her country in conflict, and was torn between the union and confederacy because her home state, Missouri, consisted of citizens who supported both parties (Clark). She also had to face this catastrophe without a father whom died in a railroad accident when she was only five. This was especially difficult for Chopin and her family full of women because the late 19th century was a time period that had little to no respect for women, and deemed them worthy of nothing but bearing children and fulfilling house chores. Chopin understood the concept of mourning because she went through so much. She lost her father at five, lost her half brother to the Union forces, and was widowed at 32. Although these atrocities seem terrible, by experiencing these, Chopin was able to write about loss, and knew what she was conveying to her audience in “The Story of an