Hell is for children: notes on young love

Abstract

We are inundated with messages about love, but we are never taught how to interpret these messages and have a healthy relationship. This collection of essays interprets common phrases about love. Through analysis and application, common phrases about love are reintroduced with themes of vulnerability, honesty, and willingness to try again. We will look at the phrases: love hurts, love takes risks, wear your heart on your sleeve, we get to make our own rules. Using my own experience, I can only speak to young love, but I hope to have come to perennial conclusions about health relationships. In this memoir-essay of my own romantic life, my aim is to give young readers a roadmap to understanding their desires and offer all readers a glimpse into what love can be. From the perspective of a survivor of intimate partner violence, these essays offer a voice from a dark depth of love abused, emergent into the light of true love. Keywords: Contact Major, Human Narratives; Love; Young Adult; Relationships