Much Ado About Relationships Essay

Relationships “The shortest horror story: The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door” - Fredric Brown. Brown comedically exposes a fear that everyone has- the thought of life without others. Although some may initially say,” what? That sounds great !” when one actually thinks of being the last person on Earth, he or she sees that after awhile it would be terrible. Humans are social creatures, and the people that a person is around, ultimately shape his or her portrayal of the world. Positive people will produce a positive output on a person’s view of the world, and vice versa. This theme of relationships shaping one’s experiences of the world is seen in many works of literature, but specifically in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, where a father and son travel in a post-apocalyptic society. The two depend on the relationship they have with each other to push them to survive through the treacherous conditions of their society. These conditions include cannibals, rapists, murderers, thieves, scavenging for food, and remaining hidden. In the end of the novel, the man dies and leaves his son with a group of people in which he trusts. Since the son has another family, he still has a reason to survive. This theme of companionship adding meaning to one’s life also creeps into the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. In the play, There are numerous groups of friends and lovers trying to get Beatrice, the niece of governor Leonato, and Benedick, Prince Don Pedro’s best soldier, together. …show more content…
Beatrice feels as if no man is worthy of her, and that Benedick would make her even more unhappy, yet she fears becoming an old maid. Benedick feels as if no woman could have all of the characteristics that he would like, so instead he has meaningless relationships with multiple women. By the end of the novel the two are tricked into loving each other, and are happier people as a result. The theme of relationships with others affecting a person’s world views and emotions, that was expressed in The Road and Much Ado About Nothing, is also seen in the novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Where Pecola Breedlove, the main character, is living in a society that has set the standard of beauty for women as having lightly toned skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Throughout the novel, Pecola struggles with what society deems as ‘beautiful’, and her actual self. People in her community call her ugly, black, and treat her poorly. Pecola lives in a world where she is hated and has no one to comfort her, not even her parents. By the end of the novel Pecola creates an imaginary friend to tell her that she has the bluest of eyes; in reality, Pecola still has the features that her society calls ‘ugly.’ This creation of such a narrative shows how emotionally damaged Pecola is from the lack of love and support from her parents. Relationships with others are what determine a person’s happiness and state of being. If one is stripped of his or her last loved one, then he or she will long to be with his or her loved one, because the thought of life without that person would leave one to feel incomplete. This idea of life without a loved one feeling lonely and incomplete is seen in the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy. In the novel the man and his son are camping out on a cliff late at night by a fire. The boy awakes from his sleep to see the man near him, and the two then begin to talk about their predicament: Can I ask you something? Yes. Of course you can. What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay. (McCarthy, pg .14) This quote depicts a truth about people from a biological standpoint. If the boy and the man were the last two people standing in a post-apocalyptic society, one or the other would kill himself if the other had died. If the man died, the boy would want to reunite with the man and the boy’s mother. Living a life without a