Forbidden Love In Water For Elephants By Sara Gruen And The Notebook

Love will survive all is a common theme in literature, but even more common is the ‘forbidden love’ archetype. In the novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and the movie The Notebook by Jeremy Levin, people sometimes listen to their hearts rather than their brains. Love is powerful force that can give both strengths and weaknesses, it can make one do unexpected things and holds the ability to change the course of one’s whole life. Through theme and symbols love is shown to endure through time, problems, and separation.

To begin, love is shown to face many problems in both stories. In Water for Elephants the most substantial problem Marlena and Jacob face is that Marlena is married to her abusive husband, August. The circus is really …show more content…
There is a strong similarity between the two in this sense of separation, death has separated Jacob from his love as dementia has done for Noah. Reflecting on his life, Jacob admits that the moment he lost Marlena “it all ended for [him], and he wouldn’t have wanted her to go through that.” (Guren 13) Though Marlena is physically removed from him, and he may never see or hear her again, she is alive and well in his memory. He thinks of her often and he reflects over the life they had shared fondly, he admits being without her is hard but that he is glad he is the survivor. It takes great courage for Jacob to remain true to his love and to not feel bitter over her departure- as she had no control over that. Courage is a theme shown time and time again in the novel, and only solidifies the effects love has. In The Notebook, dementia has stolen Ally from Noah for the majority of the time. Still, Noah never gives up on his wife and reads to her consistently, in the hope that she will come back to him, if even for only a moment. Noah tries his best to remind Ally of the times they shared, the memories that they made, and the life they have lived together. Ally only comes back to him every so often, but when she does, she is overjoyed with his love and devotion. Great courage is shown on part of both characters, they understand Ally’s …show more content…
This is perhaps the most important test for love because, as many people know, love will sometimes fade over time. However, in the case of both stories, love only grows with time. Old age is an important theme in both works, it shows us that though a person's body many change, their mind and heart remain the same. Though time can do harsh things and can put someone through a lot, love is shown to be more powerful than even love. Jacob, as he sits alone in the nursing home, thinks of his life with Marlena, he thinks of missing her and loving her, but most importantly he believes that everything he has done is worth it because it lead him to Marlena. He calls age a “terrible thief” but later goes on to say how “[he is] glad [Marlena] went first.” (12 13) And though Marlena is gone from earth, she is alive in his mind. In The Notebook an important emphasis is put on the test of time, between flashbacks, Noah is shown to always be by his wife’s side, staying loyal to her though she is often far away. In a moment of her remembrance, Noah states that “[he will] never leave [her].” (Leavin) Through everything they have had to face, old age and the passing of time have been the hardest. Yet their love endures, and in the end when they go, they go together as two people who have loved each other through the trials of their