Love Song

Maybe I'm Amazed- Paul McCartney

Lyrics:
Baby Im amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe Im afraid of the way I love you
Baby Im amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time
Hung me on a line
Maybe Im amazed at the way I really need you

Baby Im a man and maybe Im a lonely man
Whos in the middle of something
That he dosent really understand
Babe Im a man and maybe you're the only woman
Who could ever help me
Baby wont you help to me understand

(lead solo)

Baby Im a man and maybe Im a lonely man
Whos in the middle of something
That he dosent really understand
Babe Im a man and maybe you're the only woman
Who could ever help me
Baby wont you help me understand

Baby Im amazed at the way you're with me all the time
Maybe Im afraid of the way I leave you
Baby Im amazed at the way you help me sing my song
You right me when Im wrong
Maybe Im amazed at the way I really need you


I don't really know what it is about this song that "gets" to me.  I have always been a fan of it since I was a little girl.  I think it's because I adore the relationship that Paul and Linda McCartney had which makes the song more meaningful because it is so genuine and heartfelt.  This relates to love and desire because it emphasizes this idea of "the one".  We all have this ideal in our head that we are going to meet one person and instantly know they are our soulmate and the only person for us.  It's this image that we are truly only meant for one person.  The song also plays off of the desire to be needed by someone.  We all want to feel needed by another because it gives us security.  Maybe this why the song "gets" to me just in the same why I adore their relationship because I desire to meet "the one"/ "my soulmate" or whatever    someone calls it.  Whether we all have a soulmate or whether it's all fake, I'm still and optimist which is why this song appeals to me.  I think that because this song is genuine that it gives it's listeners hope that "true love" exists.  Another definition of love that I think this song brings up that we have not really discussed yet in class is this idea of a "mutual addiction".  As human beings, we want others and at the same time we want to be wanted.  We want someone to be as attached to us as we are to them.  Almost like, love is the only thing that matters in life.

Vargas Llosa's "The Bad Girl" - Week Two

The relationship between the Bad Girl and Ricardo continues to evolve throughout the rest of the book.  Ricardo sees the Bad Girl in Paris, then he sees her in London.  When he sees her in London, she is married to a very rich Englishman whom she says she loves.  Later in the novel, Ricardo meets the Bad Girl again when she is the mistress for an extremely wealthy Asian man.  Each time that Ricardo meets the Bad Girl, it is like he is meeting someone else because she is never the same person twice, and she also pretends not to know him.  I think this plays a lot into desire.  We think that we want one thing, but in actuality we do not. Ricardo thinks that he loves the Bad Girl and that he wants to be with her, but this is not really the case.  Ricardo desires the Bad Girl because she is his complete foil and because of the fact that he cannot have her.  Ricardo is very boring and unadventurous, whereas, the Bad Girl is completely spontaneous and always on the move.  On the one hand, Ricardo stays attracted to the Bad Girl because she is everything that he would like to be.  He moves to Paris in the hopes of creating a new and exciting life, but this falls shorts when he becomes a translator.  However; the Bad Girl merely creates excitement just by existing.  Another reason why Ricardo stays attracted to the Bad Girl throughout the book even though she clearly takes advantage of him is because he desires excitement not the Bad Girl.  Every time Ricardo meets the Bad Girl, she is someone new and different.  This keeps Ricardo on his feet and adds passion to his life.  Ricardo lives the same mundane life every day changing nothing in his routine.  But thinking about the next encounter with the Bad Girl and then especially when he does see her again, gives him the stimulation he needs in his life.  This is why what he thinks he desire is The Bad girl, but what he really desires is the effects she brings.  I wonder if Ricardo actually tamed the Bad Girl and had a serious relationship with her, if he would actually be fulfilled in his life?  Personally, I do not think that he would be.  I think that he would become bored and find the next exciting girl who comes along because he does not desire love or a relationship, but rather passion and excitement.  

Vargas Llosa's "The Bad Girl" - Week One

Mario Llosa's book, The Bad Girl, directly relates to what we have been discussing in class since it was inspired by the book we are reading, Madame Bovary.  Llosa takes the classic novel, Madame Bovary, and updates it to fit the new upcoming culture of the "swinging sixties" and the seventies.  One quote that stuck out to me in the very beginning of the book is when Llosa writes "Lily's face focused with the same fervor she brought to taking communion at twelve o' click Mass at the Parque Central church, her gaze fixed on the incandescent ball, waiting for the moment when the sea swallowed up the last beam to formulate the wish that the great star, Or God, would grant" (Llosa 7).  Lily directly relates to Emma.  Lily is a daydreamer who constantly fantasizes about this ideal image she has.  In class we have been discussing about Emma's behaviors as well.  Emma is cut from the same cloth as Lily.  Emma desires to have a better life so she consumes herself in these fantasies that nobody else understands.  I think that this quote is important to have at the very beginning of the novel because it instantly shows us who Lily is.  As the reader, we understand that Lily is someone who is searching for a greater life than what she has, and ultimately, we cannot be mad at her just like we cannot be mad at Emma.  Both of their biggest faults is that they are daydreamers.  Neither of them are content with the life they are living, so they do something about that.  This relates to the theme in class that women should not have to merely accept the boring life they are given.  Women should be allowed to embrace their fantasies.  This is why this quote is perfect to set the character up of Lily.  Another quote that I found interesting is when she leaves Ricardo.  Ricardo says that "She went to Switzerland to make a deposit and took everything, everything, and ruined me.  Chapeau, un coup de maitre! She knew I couldn't denounce her without accusing myself, without ruining my reputation and my position.  She knew if I denounced her I'd be the first one injured, for keeping secret accounts, for evading taxes.  Do you understand how well planned it was?  Can you believe she could be so cruel toward someone who gave her only love and devotion" (LLosa 63).  This takes place immediately after the "bad girl" leaves Ricardo and takes all of his money.  What sticks out to me most in this quote is the very last sentence when Llosa writes "Can you believe she could be so cruel toward someone who gave her only love and devotion?".  This goes back to the whole idea that she needs to do whatever she can to fulfill her fantasies.  Charles gave Emma a fairly comfortable life, but this still did not stop her from cheating on him.  At the end of the day,  both women were not satisfied in their boring relationships.  Thus, should they be punished for that?  No, I do not think so.  Both women do whatever they can to attain their ideal image of life, and there is nothing wrong with this.