“We’ve been taught that negative equals realistic and positive equals unrealistic.”  This is also true with relationships, but in many cases it’s not this simple.  Often the negative is thought to be positive and the unrealistic is thought to be realistic.  Love and lust are often confused and hearts are often broken in the course two people by several factors.

The relationship between Alan Austin and Diana in “The Chaser” is one driven by passion and naiveté.  Alan thinks that if Diana shows jealousy and clings to him that there will be love between them.  Alan thinks he is in love with Diana, but the reality is that he is driven by lust.  If Alan weren’t so naïve, he wouldn’t be trying to get Diana to love him.  Diana doesn’t feel for Alan as he does for her, and hence the bond between them couldn’t be love.

The connection between the ghostly couple in “A Haunted House” is an everlasting bond, that withstands the most destructing force of all; death.  The ghostly couple is searching for the light in the heart. They search their house, once full of love, looking for the love they had and left behind.  The couple still wanders in the house together, reminiscing of their love and since they still remember, it still lives, though they don’t.

The love of Elisa and Henry Allen in “Chrysanthemums” is one of desolation and confusion with a number of misunderstandings and words left unsaid.  Mrs. Allen takes great pride in her chrysanthemums and Mr. Allen seems to miss a lot of the signals Elisa is sending.  When the tinker comes through and shows a false interest in Elisa’s Chrysanthemums, she sees a lot of things she doesn’t see in her husband.  Elisa is sheltered a lot by her husband and he seems to show little interest in what she cares about, though he tries to make her happy through compromise.

In “The Lottery” Tessie and Bill Hutchinson have a strict and formal relationship as dictated by the norms of the community, which seems to be challenged by Tessie whenever the occasion presents itself.  Tessie and Bill live in a community that is tradition oriented and relies on social norms.  Tessie seems to be a little out of place.  She is late to the lottery and then tells her husband to get up there and draw, which isn’t socially accepted.  When the Hutchinson family is drawn and Tessie is found to have the paper, her husband throws love to the wind to conform to social norms.

In “The Lady or the Tiger” a commoner and a princess face the trials of family and social dram, with the commoner clinging to the princess by trust.  The princess and her lover had a relationship that was separated by class.  The lover was but on trial by having to open a door and either be married to another woman or die a terrible death.  The commoner knows the princess will find out which door contains the lady and which contains the tiger, but the princess is jealous of the lady behind the door and doesn’t want another woman to have her lover if she can’t.  The princess is semi-barbaric, so the ideas of morals and ethics don’t seem to cross her mind.  The commoner has every faith in the princess and trusts her with his very life.  The princess doesn’t seem as dedicated to the relationship as the commoner.

So, the next time you find yourself in a relationship, ask yourself:  Is it love pure and true, or is it influenced by naiveté or other outside forces like social norms?  The male-female relationships in “The Lady or the Tiger,” “The Chaser,” “The Lottery,” and “The Chrysanthemums” are similar in the aspect that they have people that are mislead and misunderstood.  “A Haunted House” seems to stand out from the rest of the stories in that the couple doesn’t seem to be facing problems, other than death, and they don’t seem to need approval for their pure love.  In short, love can be misleading.