Liz Davis

5 Dec. 2016

The Power of Desire and Loss in the Romantic Narrative

          Desire and loss are human emotions that everyone experiences at one point in their life. Desire and loss both appear in Romantic texts frequently because people can relate to the feelings from their past. When the reader sees the protagonist endure these emotions, they can connect with the character and his or her emotional state, which adds to the characterization and the narrative. Hannah Mak says in her 2015 final essay titled The Relevance of Desire and Loss that “suffering is necessary for growth, and so is desire, because, without some initiative spark of desire, there is no motivator for action” (Mak 1). The romance narrative is fueled by actions set in motion by the protagonist, which are guided by his or her emotions. The emotions of desire and loss are driving forces in the romance narrative because these feelings add to characterization, plot, and the ultimate transcendence. Desire and loss frequently reappear in American Romanticism because the audience can relate to the emotions felt by the characters, and therefore sympathy helps advance the romance narrative forward.

          Desire is a compelling feeling that adds to a character’s portrait and makes the audience sympathize with them on a personal level. Desire comes from the heart, and while it is sometimes fleeting, sometimes it is everlasting. Passion can make a character in the romance narrative relatable because we have all been in that character’s place at one time or another, whether it is on a large or small scale. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Winter Dreams, Dexter loves Judy Jones with a passion of “fire and loveliness,” whether it is mutual or not. He believes that he can win Judy’s love if he has enough money, which is untrue. Everyone has been in the place where they think if they can change, they believe someone will fall for them – and it does not work. In another story about desire, Edgar Allan Poe’s Ligeia, the narrator fell madly in love with the woman Ligeia. The narrator describes her beauty and knowledge as sublime and infinite by many superlatives absolutes, giving the audience the feeling that she is the greatest being to walk the earth. Their love was strong, and he claims their “love would have reigned no ordinary passion” (Poe 10). He worshiped her like an idol, to the point where it seemed almost like an unhealthy obsession. The audience can sympathize with the narrator as a character because most have had that love whom they have loved with a passion much like the narrator. Desire adds to characterization in the romance narrative and helps the story progress because readers can identify with the characters in the texts, and this makes them more realistic. Their desires make it seem like they are more than just words on a page – that they are actually living beings who have a story to tell and something to lose.

          Loss is an emotion that makes characters relatable while also adding to the plot development in the romance narrative. In numerous stories, protagonists are haunted by their past, which makes the audience connect with them. Because we know that the characters experienced loss, we understand from personal experience that they must move on with their life, and this helps the story progress forward. In Ligeia, the narrator moves on in life, but not in his mind. He is still in love with the “waking vision of Ligeia” and is haunted by her memories (Poe). After Ligeia’s death, he was “crushed into the very dust with sorrow” and aimlessly wandered around until he bought a large abbey in which to live. He then becomes an opium addict and avoids his new wife, Rowena. Though he physically moves on in the story, he does not emotionally move on, and the readers can sympathize with his grief because we were able to comprehend his desire for Ligeia. Similarly, in Winter Dreams, Dexter is chasing after an unattainable woman, and he finally realized “he could not have Judy Jones” (Fitzgerald 4.12). The fickleness of Judy Jones is what helps move this story along, and it is at this moment that Dexter finally realizes that he needs to put Judy behind him, even if it means losing her. Dexter has to lose a part of his life to move on; he has to let the past live in the past. He decides to become engaged to another woman and move on with his life. He understands that “he loved her, and he would love her until the day he was too old for loving – but he could not have her” (Fitzgerald 5.2). It is when all hope is lost that the story becomes attractive to the reader, even though it is unfortunate for the characters in the story.

          When all hope is lost, there is one place to turn to in a time of need; the past. Nostalgia is a feeling that adds to the plot of a romantic narrative while, oddly enough, moving it forward in time. Nostalgia represents a sense of both desire and loss because while a character is both yearning for the past, they understand that it is only the past and they cannot reach that moment in time any longer. People like to reflect on the good old days when times were better and they did not have to worry about the hardships they are facing now. In a romantic narrative, when a character becomes nostalgic, it gives the audience insight into the past and lets them in on the knowledge they did not previously have, and it gives them missing details to a story. In Winter Dreams, Dexter is not able to capture Judy’s love, so he keeps her as a memory. He keeps her as a feeling deep in his heart, “the thing was deep in him. He was too strong and alive for it to die lightly” (Fitzgerald 4.17). He will always have that feeling of nostalgia, the boat ride, the golf course and the late night conversations. Judy Jones makes a strong impression, and those feelings will never die because of his desires. Though he has to lose her, her memories will never be truly gone because the nostalgia will always be there for him to reflect upon. In Thomas Wolfe’s The Lost Boy, the whole narrative is told through memories and a sense of nostalgia is present. In the mother and sister’s tale, it is a conversational tone, and they are reflecting back on memories to the youngest brother named Eugene. The sister tells Eugene, “and I was thinking of it all the other day when I was looking at that photograph. How we used to go and meet Grover there, and how he'd take us to the Midway. Do you remember the Midway?” (Wolfe). She remembers the late Grover when she looks at a photograph. Though he is gone, they will always have their memories of him. Unfortunately, Eugene was not old enough to remember him, and he is trying to piece all of the information together through the memories of others. Eugene has a desire to know his late brother, and the only way to learn more about him is through his family’s memories. When Eugene visits the old family house, he experiences an overwhelming amount of nostalgia and loss when he looks at the downstairs room Grover stayed in when he was ill. The nostalgia is important in this case because it is progressing the story forward in unraveling the character of Grover, how he died, and how much his family admired him. Nostalgia shows desire and loss in the form of flashback and memories to help progress the narrative forward because the character is yearning for the past.   

The final part of the Romance narrative is the ultimate transcendence, where the character rises above the limits to excel his former self or others. The protagonist must overcome trials and tribulations to become a better person than before. To overcome loss is an accomplishment, no matter the scale, and it is a defining trait of any character. Since Winter Dreams is told in non-linear order, his family looks back on his life and realizes they had the perfect child in their family; an Evangeline child. Grover is transcended in his death because he was too good for this world. He ascends to Heaven and escapes the sinful world because he was too pure. Another form of transcendence is to rise above one’s demons and bittersweet past. In Winter Dreams, when Dexter’s work associate tells him of Judy’s current life situation, Dexter feels another sense of loss because now, even the nostalgia of Judy is gone. “The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him” (Fitzgerald 6.34) His memories of Judy have now been tarnished by what his friend said. Though he does not want to, he is finally able to move on and find beauty elsewhere in life, “the gray beauty of steel that withstands all time” (Fitzgerald 6.35). Dexter overcomes his former self and can become the man he wants to be, not the man he wanted to become for Judy. Last, Poe’s Ligeia can be interpreted many ways when it comes to transcendence. The narrator states that when he looks at Rowena, her likeness has transformed into “the lady Ligeia” (Poe 27). This transformation can be interpreted as Ligeia overcoming death and reappearing on earth, or the Narrator has finally become so grief-stricken that he has overdosed on opium and transcended into heaven to join Ligeia. The Narrator succumbs to his desires, and she reappears in his life. This could be because of his self-inflicted habits due to his grief, or she transformed because of some supernatural reason. There are other possibilities as well, but these two are only to be looked at for the sake of space. Regardless, the Narrator and Ligeia are reunited after the obstacles the both of them went through. To follow a character through their worst time and to their eventual transcendence is a moving experience for an audience member because it takes them through a wave of emotions. The characters must overcome many hardships along their journey in the romance narrative and desire and loss make it a more enduring journey for the character.

Desire and loss appear in Romantic texts frequently because readers can relate to the characters’ emotions and sympathize with the elements within the romance narrative. Throughout the plot, there are times when the audience must identify with the character and desire and loss plays a significant role because the readers have first-hand experience with those emotions. Desire and loss help fuel the plot line and add twists and turns to the story, and the audience understands this more because they connect with the underlying emotions attached to the character’s feelings. Nostalgia represents both desire and loss because while a character is both longing for the past, they know that it is out of their reach. The transcendence of the character is the final step on the journey because they finally reached the end and can overcome their obstacles and their former self. They can rise above their loss, or unattainable desire, and be free.

All people experience desire and loss; that is what makes characters in Romantic texts so appealing and agreeable to the audience. The audience can see themselves in the characters because they have been in their shoes before, they know how the story should go – until the author switches it up on them. Emotions power everything in life, especially literature, and desire and loss are the most powerful emotions.