love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love

love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love

Introduction

Someone once uttered that “love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love“. This concept is worked into O Thiam Chin’s works Eyes and Eyes. The author writes of the story of a couple who created their own world to show that they had truly surrendered to love. Although they experienced insurmountable challenges in their childhood and later on in marriage, they were willing to overcome everything for the sake of their love. Chin suggests that love conquers everything, and couples should be prepared to surrender themselves to it. This is evident in their language, silence, and gestures.

To begin with, their love is conveyed in their love l2anguage. The couple is verbal about their love for each other. This is evident in the way they touch and spend quality time with each other. The author writes, “The long years we spent together had taught us to be each other’s eyes and ears, the language we shared a quiet, patient kind”. In another paragraph, he notes that “When I told my wife this, she took my hands in hers, her face brightened with a new tenderness, the smile lines deepened on her cheeks”. In other words, the couple spoke the language of love, and this was conveyed through physical touch. In so doing, they were able to keep their love growing regardless of the physical differences between them. Moreover, they were also able to learn each other’s love language through which each other best hears the message of love. In the last paragraph, it is evident that the couple speaks the language of love, even when words are not sufficient to express it. The author writes;

I didn’t know what to say so I held her hands to my face. She caressed it, feeling all my facial features slowly, as if each was a sign, saying something important or comforting, and she didn’t want to miss a single word. In her touch, I could feel her fear and her love, working through her body, into me, and I didn’t flinch or look away.

The author also expresses the idea of love through gestures. These are effective in expressing their love. For instance, when the husband walks home and senses that something is wrong, he sees a dirty glass that the wife was using. He walks to the sink and cleans it for her. In another instance, the husband encourages the wife to go for a medical checkup when she realizes that she has a lump on her breast. Since the wife could not see, the husband was always willing to come to her rescue, describing things to her, leading her when walking to different places, and just being there when she needed someone to talk to her. The author writes, “We would take long walks through the park in our neighborhood and along the beach. When she felt the need to talk, she would look up at me and mouth her words, and when I wanted to say something, I’d write it down on her palm”.

Another element that is used to express the notion that love conquers all is silence. Although silence is mostly used to imply withdraw, the author shows that it can also be influential in expressing people’s love. The couple’s love is so beautiful that it can only be expressed through silence. This is mainly because it originates from a positive place. Silence is more evident when the individuals are struggling to put their emotions into words. An excellent example is the moment the husband walks into the nursery and sees the wife silently holding their daughter as if she was in deep thoughts. Instead of disturbing their peace, he chooses to stand at the door, and he later walks into the room. Although both do not talk with each other, their silence communicates much more than words could ever do. After he put Emily down to sleep, the husband kneels beside his wife, and both of them do not utter a word for some time. Prior to this, he walks into the kitchen and observes the messed room. Although the wife does not tell him anything, he is able to get the message that all was not well. In other words, silence is a powerful tool for communicating the couple’s love for each other.

In conclusion, Chin’s story demonstrates that a couple can have a love that conquers all, a love so beautiful and intense that it does not recognize people’s differences. The love language between the couple conveys the fierce love they have for each other. Furthermore, they utilize different gestures to show how much they love one another. Silence is the third element they use to show their love. As a result, they are able to surrender themselves to love to a state where no word is necessary to make sense.