Love is a powerful word. It is a strong feeling that transforms your life, transforms everything you are. When you are in love you can feel it up in the air, in the morning and before going to sleep. In the short story “The Love of My Life” by T. C Boyle, China and Jeremy are two teenagers who are deeply in love or so it seems. Two high school students with an almost perfect life and a promising future who enjoy to share most of their time with each other. Despite being so young Jeremy and Chyna have started to enjoy their sexuality since they practically began their relationship also, both parents allowed them to spend time together unsupervised for extended periods of time. One day, they decided to go on a camping trip before separating as they would leave for their respective colleges. During this trip Jeremy and Chyna have sex practically every day without adequate protection and then Chyna gets pregnant. When Chyna tells Jeremy about the pregnancy, they decide to hide it and continue their lives separated by the miles between their respective new schools because both believe that this situation will ruin their lives; for consequence, Chyna spends her pregnancy without going to the doctor and without saying a word to anyone. The day that Chyna is about to have her baby, she calls Jeremy and both decide to meet in a motel. A few moments later, Chyna gives birth to a baby girl but instead keeping their daughter China tells her lover Jeremy to “get rid of it,” as if it were garbage coming out of her body. Jeremy also does not want to keep the baby so he proceeds to do it in a cold and ruthless way. When they woke up the next day Jeremy is arrested and Chyna is in a hospital room waiting to go to court and be sentenced for the crime they committed. At the end of this story we can see two very different points of view from these characters, Jeremy remains convinced that what he did was good since bringing a baby to the world would destroy his future and dreams. On the other hand, Chyna is regretful thinking about her daughter but she is also remembering the love of her life, Jeremy. When we are young, we are often guided by emotions without thinking much about the future, much less the consequences of our actions. We usually confuse falling in love with true love. The question in this story will always be: what drives a couple like this to commit the murder of their own child? I applaud the author because he provokes deep emotions in the minds of readers about the irresponsibility of our culture.
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