Humans need love, love, and relationships are psychological needs required to be emotionally healthy. This is often referred to fulfilling Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs but what happens when the search for this needs results in confusion of other feelings for love, such as codependency where one person can rely on the other to love and care for them because they can’t do it themselves. Is it really love? In The Perfect Man, Naeem Murr explores the relationship between two characters, Annie and Lew. Throughout the development of their relationship, it might seem Lew is dependent on Annie and holds on to her as an anchor to the world after the mental and emotional damage he went through. Yet, their relationship seems to be based on a habit of
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They both have doubts about the extent of their feelings for each other because they do not actually know what love is. Exploring the realities and illusions of love Fletcher says, “romantic love is typically viewed as a commitment device designed to lead men and women to substantially invest for long periods in one another” (627.) This is the view Annie and Lew hold of love, they think that because they have spent so much time together and making plans that automatically means they should because that is what love is. It is also that forcing of a commitment that eventually drifts them away from each …show more content…
Dealing with a mental illness is difficult whether it is being the one affected by it or the people around that person. In “Couples and Mental Illness” the author states that “[w]hen there is a mental health problem in one partner… this involves the partner of the patient taking on more responsibility than before … for the ill partner or for their children” (Crowe 309.) In Annie’s case, she takes on the responsibility to take care of Lew for years after he is released from the clinic and keep him from getting lost in his madness. She does this because she feels it her duty because he loves her. When Baby is born any then takes more responsibility for him and his well-being and leaves Lew in the background contributing to the deplorable mental
They both have doubts about the extent of their feelings for each other because they do not actually know what love is. Exploring the realities and illusions of love Fletcher says, “romantic love is typically viewed as a commitment device designed to lead men and women to substantially invest for long periods in one another” (627.) This is the view Annie and Lew hold of love, they think that because they have spent so much time together and making plans that automatically means they should because that is what love is. It is also that forcing of a commitment that eventually drifts them away from each …show more content…
Dealing with a mental illness is difficult whether it is being the one affected by it or the people around that person. In “Couples and Mental Illness” the author states that “[w]hen there is a mental health problem in one partner… this involves the partner of the patient taking on more responsibility than before … for the ill partner or for their children” (Crowe 309.) In Annie’s case, she takes on the responsibility to take care of Lew for years after he is released from the clinic and keep him from getting lost in his madness. She does this because she feels it her duty because he loves her. When Baby is born any then takes more responsibility for him and his well-being and leaves Lew in the background contributing to the deplorable mental