Love and Sacrifice

Author's Note: This is the Point of View assignment we were assigned in class Monday. In the first paragraph, I answer who's telling the story, if we can trust her, and how her Point of View affects how we interpret events in the story. In the second paragraph, I state how the interpretation of the story would change how we viewed events. In the final paragraph, I wrote creatively in his point of view. The main character in the first paragraph is Francesca Johnson, and the character is the final two paragraphs is Robert Kincaid. Enjoy!

If love comes your way at the wrong time, and in the wrong circumstances, what are you supposed to do? How do you make the decision against your heart or your family? That is exactly what Francesca Johnson, the main character in The Bridges of Madison County, must do. As she is telling the novel, you see a loving mother, willing to do anything for her children. She is even willing to give up her one destined love in life for them. Although you can trust her viewing of the story, the interpretation is changed. The reader is eligible to see the love affair through the eyes of someone who has something precious to lose. What would happen if the novel was shown in the viewing area of someone who has nothing to give up? Who has nothing in life lost, only gained?

Robert Kincaid was the man who had nothing that needed giving up, just everything to gain. He could gain love, acceptance, a permanent home. Robert found in all in his true love, Francesca Johnson. The primary issue? She was already married with children. Though Robert understood her circumstances, if it was told in his view point, there would be no terribly difficult decision making. Right away, the choice to be together for the rest of their lives would be made. Sadly, Francesca was the primary teller of this story, and her children are too precious for her to lose.

I gaze over at the love of my existence, sleeping soundly next to me. I analyze the face I've stared at for hours on end without boring, from her beautiful hair, her perfect eyebrows, the eyes that have the depths of a endless lake, the slightly pointed nose, and the lips I feel like I've kissed a million times. This is the face of the person I can't bear to lose. Yet, I'm sure, in the next coming days, I will lose her. Francesca must make the decision between me and her family, and I know the choice she will make. It's the choice that if I wasn't selfish, I would hope she would make. Her family can't survive without her. Yet can I survive without her? What will my life become? Will I morph into a wanderer of the world, with no point, no sense of direction? I'm almost certain that I will. It saddens me, but I can't avoid it. I accept it. I am lost without her, yet for her sake, for the sake of the purity of her soul, I will let her go. Although, I will never let her go completely. I will always be waiting in the wings for her, so she wishes to return. If this never occur, Francesca will have a location in the strongest part of my heart.