Incest has been a taboo topic of paradoxically irresistible interest for thousands of years, from the Greek gods and goddesses who made love with each other’s family members, parents and children to the modern-day cases of fathers forcing their daughters to procreate for them that disturb and intrigue the public mind. In the case of romantic love between parents and children, “Little C” by Martha C. Nussbaum suggests that, disturbingly, the difference between romantic and parental love is tenuous at best, and easily corruptible. The idealized selfless love that is often seen as the epitome of romantic love is oddly congruous to parental love, especially when parents put the happiness of their children above their own wellbeing. Normally,
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The parallel between parents and lovers is one that most cultures tend to avoid, but because of the nature of Little C’s relationship with the narrator, the reader is forced to question at every turn: where is the line between platonic and romantic love drawn? Throughout every step of their relationship, the narrator hopes Little C will find profound happiness in life as a result of her affection and guidance, not unlike a parent. However, unlike most parents, she desires this happiness for him so deeply because when he is happy, she sees her disappeared husband in his face: “I could see [my husband’s] face through the music, and at those moments I loved Little C for bringing you closer.” She fixates on his physical and intellectual powers more than a normal mother would, because she wants him to turn into the strong, insightful man she once loved. She “loved the light in his multi-colored eyes, the jutting defiance in his jaw, the deft and rapid movements of his feet.” When he is a baby, she wonders at what point will he begin to start lively discussions about philosophy or politics like her husband. In other words, she is wondering when Little C will begin to show a divergent and passionate intellectual mindset; when he will start thinking for himself, and gain the capability to make the narrator question the world around
The parallel between parents and lovers is one that most cultures tend to avoid, but because of the nature of Little C’s relationship with the narrator, the reader is forced to question at every turn: where is the line between platonic and romantic love drawn? Throughout every step of their relationship, the narrator hopes Little C will find profound happiness in life as a result of her affection and guidance, not unlike a parent. However, unlike most parents, she desires this happiness for him so deeply because when he is happy, she sees her disappeared husband in his face: “I could see [my husband’s] face through the music, and at those moments I loved Little C for bringing you closer.” She fixates on his physical and intellectual powers more than a normal mother would, because she wants him to turn into the strong, insightful man she once loved. She “loved the light in his multi-colored eyes, the jutting defiance in his jaw, the deft and rapid movements of his feet.” When he is a baby, she wonders at what point will he begin to start lively discussions about philosophy or politics like her husband. In other words, she is wondering when Little C will begin to show a divergent and passionate intellectual mindset; when he will start thinking for himself, and gain the capability to make the narrator question the world around