In AchebeÆs Things Fall Apart, we see self-love most expressed in the character of Okonkwo. OkonkwoÆs accomplishments demonstrate an affirmation of the strength, values, and beauty of the native Igbo culture. This culture is being systematically destroyed by British colonials. OkonkwoÆs self-love is viewed as a threat by the British, because he refuses to abandon his native values and customs. When he is killed, Obierika studies his dead form and poignantly expresses the negative impact of colonialism on OkonkwoÆs self-love and the Okonkwo people, ôOur own men and our sons have already joined the ranks of the strangersàThe white man is very cleveràHe has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart,ö (Achebe 1990, 159-160).
In HwangÆs M Butterfly, erotic love is expresses by GallimardÆs erotic love for Song creates in him two decades of yearning for what is only his ideal of love. Because Gallimard finds Song to be the embodiment of his white Western erotic fantasies of a submissive Asian woman. He is so controlled by his erotically driven pursuit of this fantasy that he becomes blind to reality. Not overly desirable, Gallimard explains how he was blinded by his fantasy, ôàButterflyàis a feminine ideal, beautiful and braveàits heroàthe man for whom she gives up everything, isùnot very good-looking, not too bright, and pretty much a wimp,ö (Hwang 1994, 5).
SteinbeckÆs The Grapes of Wrath illustrates the love between a mother, Ma Joad, and her son Tom. The love of Ma Joad provides the family with the strength it needs to endure. Ma Joad is protective of her family, especially Tom. In one of the final scenes of the novel when Tom is about to leave his mother, we are provided with one of the most poignant exchanges of mother-child love in all literature. At one point Ma expresses her concern for TomÆs safety, ôHow am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? They could kill
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