Love in Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina :: Bastard Out of Carolina Essays

Love in Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina   Love is a word, a signifier, tied to many a(prenominal) meanings, all different in context, cultures, and ideologies. Love is used numerous ways in Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina, by many characters. In the character of tog up, retire is a confused thing, always changing, as stand up uses it to fit her life on the fly. In relation to parental fare, Bone wants Daddy Glen to love her. However, early in the book, Bones conception of love is that of a child, obviously. On page 52, she says, I wanted him to love us. I wanted to be able to love him. I wanted him to pick me up gently and tell Mama again how much he loved us all. This whim of love is simple, involving hugs, smiles, and friendliness, the sort of love Bone gets from Anney. However, as Bones relationship with Glen changes, so does her perception of love. On page 108, Glen asks Bone, Dont you know how I love you? Bone thinks to herself, No, I did not know. This is near the beginning of Bones confusion about love, what it means, and what it does. At the time he asks her, he is molesting her. It is no wonder that Bone was confused, having love expressed simply, from her m new(prenominal), and sexually (if indeed it is love) from Glen. This confusion leads bone to question the idea of love, and to look elsewhere for it, perhaps to compare. Love, she finds, is a prominent idea in the southerly Baptist church. Bone is enthralled with the black and white of Christianity, the definitive line drawn between good and evil, because she can see where the love is, and what it does. She believes she can see that other people truly love one another, and believing this, she thinks the has a better grasp on the abstract idea of love. However, as Bone later discovers, love is abstract, and being abandoned by her mother, she never truly figures it out. The problem within, for Bone, is that love is a conceptual idea, and that, really, it means something different to eac h person. Not only that, nevertheless love is used by others, in ways that may not suit anyone elses conceptions of the idea. So when Anney insists to Bone and everyone else that Glen loves her and her girls, Bone tends, of course, to believe her, and thus the idea of love is transferred to how Glen treats Bone.