The message of love in this book is just timeless. It showcases the concept of love in our midst and those who we interact with. Sometimes the people that we love most and express our love to don’t end up loving us back. We also don’t express the same love to the people who show us, love. Sometimes we don’t give people who love us the opportunity to demonstrate their love to us. As the author claims, there may be two people who are equally good, equally beautiful and also equally gifted but there will be no two people that will love one another equally (Wilder 45).We only realize their love after a tragedy happens and all we have is memories. For instance, the accident at the bridge leaves only memories of love and wishes that they could have been given a chance to express their love. In this book, we encounter a daughter who flatly refuses the utmost love that her mother offers. Perhaps it is believed that motherly love to an offspring is the greatest of all kinds of love and the daughter refusing the love that her mother offers comes out as some betrayal. We get to see different types of love in this book, and this is one kind of love that we can’t just help to notice.
We forge so many connections amongst us, but a mother connects to her offspring right from the moment she gives birth to them. She sees them grow, and her love for them is undying. The ultimate thing that she can expect from her own is love, but the daughter refuses to love her mother who in essence can be heartbreaking. The feeling of loving or appreciating somebody who doesn’t show the feeling back can be devastating. It is clear from this scenario of another love that is not realized. Dona yearns for the love of her daughter, and she exhibits this by writing letters to her with the belief that her words of love will draw her close to her. . We also see a Madre, who doesn’t recognize the magnificence and brilliance of strength and character of the boy that she brought up. Another kind of love that is not manifested in those who are close to us and who we expect to receive so much from.
Another form of love that is betrayed is the love between an actress and her mentor. Uncle Pio finds and nurtures Camille; he believed in her and saw her struggle through her journey of becoming an accomplished actress and made her a star. But she later turns her back on Uncle Pio and starts to avoid him and ceases to show love back to him. It comes out as a betrayal for people to sacrifice and demonstrate their love but don’t receive the same kind of treatment back. The people who are loved never express their love back. However, when the bridge collapses and all the people meet after their loved ones have died, they start to think how important and immortal life can be. The author explores the theme of love and its mortality and he brings out the compactness of love through different characters in this novella.
The beauty and truth are not realized until the tragedy happened and the memories of the loved ones remained edged in the minds of those who lost loved ones. As Father Juniper tried to investigate the deaths of the people at the bridge, he was looking if there was any divine reason as to why the people died, but he found rather shocking discoveries. As he was researching each and every victim of the tragedy, he concluded that each of the victims was a foundation of a mainly healthy sense of love for another person. However, the type of love expressed by each different person was different; it regularly involved the extensive grounds for their continuous existence. Therefore, the author leaves a challenge to the audience on the theme of love, how it is expressed by the different characters to others and its mortality. The audience is left challenged on how various types of love should be shown at an appropriate time and setting.
Works Cited
Wilder, Thornton. The bridge of San Luis Rey. London: Penguin Books, 2006. Print
