Love In Lisa Genova's Still Alice

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how love features in a novel Still Alice written by Lisa Genova. Alice Howland, a main role of the story, is fifty-year-old Harvard professor and a world-renowned expert in linguistics. She has a successful husband and three grown children. Everyone recognizes that she is brilliant scholar in the field. One day, she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease then her days are dramatically changed. She fails to remember how to get home after morning jogs, forgets an appointment of meetings and the symptom is worsening. A tragic diagnosis turns her life, especially her relationships with others. In this novel, Lisa Genova tells a preciousness of a strong bond of family during the story. Although

The readers can recognize how much Alice is filled with love of self in her life. A self-love is often misunderstood as selfishness, but those are different. Selfish person is interested only in himself, and he doesn’t love himself too much but too little. (Fromm 56) The person who can love oneself can love others. First of all, Alice is always surrounded by many people even after diagnosing the disease. At the university, there are many fellows and a lot of students who are interested in her or respect her, and back to the house, there is beloved husband, and frequently visiting three children. She is proud of her career and life. Her life and career are not only supported by people around her, but also self-esteem. When she knew she is early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, she wanted to kill herself since her memories are eventually disappearing. It must be the hardest time she has ever experienced. As the disease progress, she tends to be frustrated. In this situation, she is not possible to love herself, however she could keep having self-love surrounded by great family and fruitful fellows. Additionally, there is dramatic scene later in the story that Alice gives speech at the Dementia Care