Looking at LOVE: Toni Morrison’s Construction of Desire and Obstacle
Emilee Prado analyzes Toni Morrison’s novel Love, focusing on how the story explores complex human desires and obstacles, especially as they relate to the multifaceted nature of love. Her claim is that Morrison uses Love to explore how desires and obstacles are often intertwined and how people seek substitutes when true love is unreachable, and how unfulfilled longings drive both characters and narrative momentum. Love, she says, avoids neat resolutions, instead inviting readers to reflect on how longing, deferral, and emotional tension are essential parts of both fiction and real-life love. Morrison's cyclical storytelling mirrors how love often functions: elusive, repetitive, and deeply human.