Mandy Len Catron: The Dangers Of Love Stories

“The beautiful thing about the collaborative work of art is that it will not paint or draw or sculpt itself. This version of love allows us to decide what it looks like,” states Mandy Len Catron at a TEDx event in January of 2016 where she discusses the reality of love. Mandy Len Catron, a writer and English teacher from Vancouver, Canada, has been working on The Love Story Project for many years and is now writing a book describing the dangers of love stories. In her speech, she infers that love is “unpredictable, frustrating, and emotionally demanding,” that it “creates both love and pain,” and that “each experience of love is different” (Catron). A love between romantic couples is a passionate and intense roller coaster ride that can make

Baroda is so overtaken by an attraction for her husband’s friend, Gouvernail that under the veil of night, she almost cheats on her husband. However, in a show of great strength and resilience, she is able to stop herself from committing such a disloyalty. Later that night, as Mrs. Baroda plans her escape from Gouvernail, the man that has evoked such strong emotions inside of her, “she is greatly tempted [...] to tell her husband [...] of [the] folly that had seized her. But she [does] not yield to the temptation” (26). Chopin uses the noun, “folly” to describe Mrs. Baroda’s feelings towards Gouvernail as frivolous and silly, because Mrs. Baroda’s attraction, though strong, is a purely physical attraction brought on by the fact that Gouvernail’s personality is heterogeneous compared to the other friendly men she and her husband host. All the other men Mrs. Baroda waits on are very different from Gouvernail because they graciously and amicably take her hospitality when it is given; however, Gouvernail shows little to no interest in her serving him. Mrs. Baroda’s confused emotions lead her to go stay at her aunt’s, and only after Mrs. Baroda is sure that all of her attraction towards Gouvernail is gone, does she come back. Later that year, she tells her husband “to have Gouvernail visit them again […]” (31). Even though it takes a year for Mrs. Baroda to feel ready to face Gouvernail again, she comes to the understanding that nothing, not even a measly attraction, can interfere with her marriage to the one man she will always love. No matter the relationship, love will always have to battle forces trying to pull a couple apart, but true love can beat the strongest obstacles of all: death and