Different Sides of Love in "The Ballad of the Sad Café"
Summary:
Carson McCullers' short story "The Ballad of the Sad Café" is a good short story because of its interesting conflict associated with the love triangle between Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy. The conflict emphasizes the story's theme of the loved versus the beloved and shows the different forms that love can take.
I Love You! That is what people say when they want to tell someone how they feel towards them, but this is not the only way to express feelings of love there are many more. Carson McCullers, the author of the short story, ?The Ballad of the Sad Café,? shows many sides of love between the main characters. ?The Ballad of the Sad Café? is a good short story because of its interesting conflict between Miss Amelia, who loves Cousin Lymon, but Cousin Lymon does not love her. The conflict gets even more intriguing when Miss Amelia?s ex-lover arrives in town a while after their break-up and causes trouble. This story was not only interesting because of the conflict, but because of the theme ?the loved vs. the beloved.? Three instances of love in the story are: Miss Amelia?s love for Cousin Lymon, Marvin Macy?s love for Miss Amelia, and Cousin Lymon?s love for Marvin Macy.
The conflict between Miss Amelia meeting Cousin Lymon and eventually loving him shows the different sides of love. When Cousin Lymon comes to town Miss Amelia lets him stay with her at the store. This was seen as an act of love because it was not normal for Miss Amelia to take care of people or give them a place to stay, she was a crude woman. Another act of love and trust was Miss Amelia letting Cousin Lymon transform her store in a café. Miss Amelia was not the kind of person that someone could walk all over. She did what she wanted to do and how she wanted to do it. Miss Amelia trusted Cousin Lymon, after he had been living with her for quite some while, and that was when Cousin Lymon took advantage of the situation. At the end of then story Cousin Lymon turns on Miss Amelia and instead of loving her he comes to love Marvin Macy. Cousin Lymon switches sides and wants to help Marvin Macy get revenge on Miss Amelia.
The conflict intensifies when Marvin Macy, Miss Amelia?s ex-lover, arrives in town. When Marvin Macy comes back to town, he has just gotten out of the penitentiary, and wants to get revenge on Miss Amelia, because she was the one that got him put in the penitentiary. Showing a side of the evil love Marvin Macy seeks out Miss Amelia, and realizes he cannot do it alone that he needs someone who is close to Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon. Marvin Macy comes to Miss Amelia?s café one night and he picks a fight with her. When Cousin Lymon sees that Marvin Macy is going to lose the fight, he jumps on Miss Amelia?s back and attacks her, which caused her to lose the fight.
The theme of ?the loved vs. the beloved? is generated out of these conflicts that took place in ?The Ballad of the Sad Café.? In the beginning of the story when Cousin Lymon comes to the town looking for a place to stay, Miss Amelia opens her doors to him. He is practically a stranger to her because she has never seen this man in her life. But there was something about Cousin Lymon, when Miss Amelia first met him that attracted her to him. Unfortunately, Cousin Lymon, having the beloved title, did not return the same feelings to Miss Amelia, who was the lover in this conflict. Miss Amelia soon sees the evil side of love when she is betrayed by Cousin Lymon and her ex-husband Marvin Macy. In the story there is another example of the lover and the beloved between Marvin Macy and Cousin Lymon. Marvin Macy comes back to town to get revenge, and finds Cousin Lymon, who knows Miss Amelia like the back of his hand. Marvin Macy becomes the lover of Cousin Lymon, when he attacks Miss Amelia, putting Marvin Macy in position to win the fight, and defeat Miss Amelia. After all Marvin Macy did tell Miss Amelia in a letter he wrote before he left town, he swore that in his life he would get even with her (125). This he did with the help and betrayal of Cousin Lymon. After the fight Cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy leave the town together and are never seen again. There love towards each other, Marvin Macy being the lover and Cousin Lymon the beloved, won out in the end.
This short story was a good one that showed the different forms that love can take. Love is not always longing to be with someone or wanting to get married to them. As in the story between Cousin Lymon and Marvin Macy, this instance of love was of each other because they both hated Miss Amelia. They wanted nothing other than to see her suffer, and they made sure she did in the end of the story. Miss Amelia suffered and that was the revenge of Marvin Macy and Cousin Lymon, for what she had done to Marvin.
In conclusion, this story taught many things about love and showed love is not how it is portrayed in the movies. People get hurt and regret what they have done, but they should not regret. Instead learn from those mistakes and try again at love. Love can come in many different forms as in the story with Miss Amelia, Cousin Lymon, and Marvin Macy. All a person has to do it look for love, and they will find it.
Ballad of the Sadd Cafe
www.cs.com
This is the complete article, containing 910 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
