A Response to Danielle Crittenden: About Love

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What is love? What does love have to do with one’s happiness? Danielle Crittenden’s point of view alters throughout her piece About Love. She starts off by dreaming of an isolated lifestyle with interaction with the opposite sex only when one desires it. That meaning we won’t have to fuss with it if we choose not to. By the end of that same paragraph she already changes her mind by saying “we want the warm body next to us…we want the noise and embrace of family…we want to look back and see that what we’ve done amounts to more than a pile of pay stubs (Page 1008)”. Crittenden asserts that everyone needs these things, therefore a life of autonomy is improbable. She keeps this stance that marriage is good and “liberating” throughout the end of the paper. I can easily agree with and argue both sides. As for the beginning, I can agree and disagree with an autonomous life. I’ve personally always wanted the type of self-dependent lifestyle, but with the option of a companion as long as there are no strings attached. Imagine not having to worry about anyone but yourself and your needs. She even goes as far as saying we could “farm out” children. I don’t agree with that, however because it is just a very crude statement. On the other hand, Crittenden says it best by stating “If no man is an island, then no woman can be, either (Page 1008)”. None of us can be isolated. Who would want to be isolated on a long term basis? Even the monks live in small communities because it’s a natural instinct. She switches her argument quickly with her “we want” sentence, and she’s completely right. We all do want those things. We all want someone to share our life with and not have to worry about having to find someone. Being with someone takes the worry out of having to go through life alone. I don’t know what kind of experience Crittenden has with this to write so precisely about it, but
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