3.1 Analysis of Martin and Ruths’ background and character 6

3.1.1 Martin 6

3.1.2 Ruth 7

3.2 Analyses based on The Art of Love 8

3.2.1 Analysis from the perspective of seperateness 8

3.2.2 Analysis from the perspective of other four elements 9

4. Conclusion 12

4.1 Major findings 12

4.2 Current Meanings 12

4.3 Limitations 13

References 14

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

Love, a basic unit of human society, creates great poets, novelists and writers both in eastern and western world to some extent. Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 1925) strives through his whole life to become a celebrity only for a precious meeting chance with Daisy. His meeting after a long seperation with her still impresses me very much, “Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water.” (Fitzgerald, 1925, chapter 4) But for love, how could one behave so nervous like a child who worries about being critisized due to a mistake? Love, usually starts from a violent attraction between two inpidual persons but definitely doesn’t stop at so-called passion. As Erich Fromm discussed in his book The Art of Love, “It is only through developing one's total personality to the capacity of loving one's neighbor with ‘true humility, courage, faith and discipline’ that one attains the capacity to experience real love.” (Fromm, 1956: 19) Martin, as the main character of Martin Eden, produces a strong love towards Ruth, like Gatsby towards Daisy. He describes Ruth as “a spirit, a pinity, a goddness; such sublimated beauty was not of the earth.” (London, 2011: 4) Inspired by it, he has all the time kept his persistence in reading books to improve himself, to gain love from Ruth although they thinks oppositely about Charles Butler. Martin even says that “Reason had nothing to do with love. She was all lovable and what she thought had nothing to do with her lovableness.” (London, 2011: 220) But does reality really act like what Martin thinks? After Ruth’s propositon for him to change a job again and again, he is depressed to find a cruel fact that the so-called lover doesn’t comprehend him at all. Understanding, as a crucial component of love according to Erich Fromm, is explained as “It is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in his own terms.” (Fromm, 1956: 43), which is never achieved both by Martin and Ruth. The upper class values have already been rooted in Ruth that one worships wealth and fame more than real knowledge. She always hopes that Martin should give up his favorite writing instead of going to her father’s office as a common but decent worker. As for Martin, he has preserved a huge illusion about love from Ruth, misunderstanding that she can understand his talents, his persistence in writing and his faith of being a famous writer for bringing her happiness. A real love won’t be built on a lack of mutual caring and knowledge. 

1.2 Purpose of the study

The thesis tends to answer the following questions. Why couldn’t Martin and Ruth develop mutual caring? What kinds of factors shake the ground of their seemingly intimate relationship? In the process of analyzing the relationship between the two main characters, it will be a good thing if readers get a more clear and comprehensive understanding towards love.

1.3 Significance of the study

How much do we really know about love? What is love consisted of? What kind of attitudes should we keep while treating with love? The study gives no answers, but insightful thoughts. Through the disscusion about Martin and Ruth’s love based on The Art of Love, it gives out some general ideas about what love is. That’s the most important of the study to convey to today’s young people who are in love or are going to be in love.