47 pages • 1-hour read
This Is a Love Story
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Symbols & Motifs
Central Park
Central Park is symbolic of love and connection. Throughout This Is a Love Story, repeated chapters titled “Central Park” depict scenes set in this iconic New York location. Told from the third-person omniscient point of view, the “Central Park” chapters illustrate how a place might bring people together and offer them opportunities for respite or connection, transcending its status as just background setting: “For those who know, for those who feel it, the Park is more than just a park. It is evocative, a symbol. It reminds them of something else, someone else” (168). Throughout the novel, the park acts as a container for seemingly disparate experiences. Each “Central Park” chapter describes a litany of park activities, visitors, events, landmarks, and scenes. This narrative technique implies that the park offers New Yorkers common ground. The park might have a different meaning to each visitor, but it offers each one a sense of comfort or escape.
Central Park also features in Abe’s, Jane’s, Alice’s, and Max’s chapters of the novel. The characters frequently visit the setting, but their reasons for going to the park always vary according to what they’re going through. For example, Abe and Jane come there after one of Jane’s chemotherapy treatments because they’ve shared many experiences at the park, each of which contributes to their connection. At other times, Jane goes to the park to be alone and think. Abe invites Alice to the park to share intimate walks and conversation. Max takes Jaclyn here when they first start dating but also sees Jaclyn there alone after she discovers that she is pregnant. This network of scenes implies that Central Park is a retreat for all different types of people and offers them different forms of solace at all points in their lives.
Alice’s Manuscript
Alice’s manuscript is symbolic of power. When she writes the short story about her and Abe’s relationship, she claims her feelings and experiences in her own words for the first time. She seizes power over her narrative and her relationship with Abe, representing it the way she chooses. The manuscript is also Alice’s way of communicating with Abe after he pushes her away. She leaves him “a copy of the story of [her] and him in his mailbox in a yellow envelope, typed, no name” (111). In doing so, Alice is claiming the proverbial “last word” in their relationship. She is also “proud of it” (111), which shows that the story grants her a sense of control within this otherwise disempowering dynamic. With Alice’s story, Soffer offers a perspective on The Evolution of Love and Relationships from outside Abe and Jane’s marriage.
The scene where Jane cuts a page from Alice’s manuscript captures Jane’s desire to seize power within Alice’s story. When she encounters the passage where Alice references “the desk, a photo of the wife, blurry, black-and-white,” Jane finds “a needle tool in a desk drawer” and “slits down the part that hurts her the most” (218). Creating this slit through this particular passage is Jane’s way of leaving her mark, specifically because she doesn’t want to be an afterthought in either Alice’s or Abe’s stories. She then mails the manuscript back to Alice, which reiterates her desire to assert her power over her.
Jane’s Artwork
Jane’s artwork is symbolic of identity and is central to both her sense of self and the development of the theme of The Role of Art in Shaping Identity. Ever since she was young, Jane has relied on her creative practice to make sense of her experiences and express her emotions. From these emotional outpourings, Jane creates a litany of paintings, sculptures, and drawings. These creations end up filling Abe and Jane’s home in Orient and include “a series of [her] petite watercolors, six, on the wall, gray, blue, violet”; “delicate vases[;] a drawing of [her and Abe] scrawled in wild inky strokes”; and “a string-and-wax sculpture that sparkles in sun” (20, 23). Each of her creations is intentional, careful, and beautiful, illustrating Jane’s care and attention to detail. At the same time, they are all distinct from one another, which shows Jane’s multitudinous experience and complex way of seeing.
To Abe, Jane’s art is also an expression of love. He asserts that she “make[s] things that feel personal—olive branches, love letters, life rafts tossed in” (23). These metaphors suggest that Jane extends affection and forgiveness to Abe via her artwork. Her creations are her way of emoting and thus translating her ineffable feelings into tangible objects. For these reasons, when Jane feels unable to create, she feels estranged from herself. This is particularly true during and immediately after her pregnancy. If she can’t create, Jane feels uncertain about who she is and what her life means. Conversely, when she returns to her work, she rediscovers herself.
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