“When one loves one's art no service seems too hard.” Love is a part of everyone’s life in some way, either positive or negative. A Service of Love by O Henry talks about a couple who lie about their jobs to each other in order to earn money, and then find out they work at the same ‘fake job’. The story starts with a little explanation about how the lovers met. The man was a good artist, and the woman a good musician. They fell in love, and got married. A while later, we learn that the woman, Delia, is giving music lessons to a wealthy general’s daughter. The man, Joe, claims to have sold a painting to a man from Peoria for a reasonably well price. The story nears an end when Joe asks Delia why she has a bandaged hand. He finds out she has been working at an ironing place when she burned her hand. The music lessons were a lie so that Joe could keep pursuing his art without having to worry about money. Joe admits that he has been lying about where he got the money from. It turns out that he was also working at the same place, just a bit above her, and he was the one who sent her the bandages. This story ends with the same quote, except this time, it’s more like; “When one loves, no service seems too hard.”
The whole reason both Joe and Delia chose to work jobs they disliked were out of love for one another. Their love and compassion is strong, and we can see that they are willing to give up their own passions for love. The things people would do out of love can be surprising, especially since we can see that they reciprocate each other’s feelings and passion. Joe lied to Delia and worked at the engine place in the laundromat because he wanted to earn money quickly so that him and Delia won’t have to starve, and she can continue giving her music lessons. Delia worked at the laundromat by ironing clothes because she wanted Joe to be able to continue his art lessons and what he likes to do without worrying about their financial situation. Although neither of them really got to do what they enjoy doing, their expressions of kindness, respect, and love prove that both of them genuinely care about each other.
Neither of the couple could pursue their dreams because they live in poverty. Poverty is a serious topic that is still being discussed nowadays and that we can see all around the world. People below the poverty line are genuinely in need of money and financial aid, therefore they cannot pursue their dreams or hobbies. Most of the money they earn has to go to shelter, food, water, and other basic things that people require in order to live, like toilet paper. Joe and Julia have to spend their little earnings on groceries, and cannot afford the luxury of taking art class or music lessons. In the text, it shows that both of them are very excited by earning a mere $15 or $16 per day or maybe even per week. They truly cannot go after whatever dream they had in the past, but at least they have a strong and happy relationship together.
When people love each other, they must sacrifice some things that they personally like in order to adapt to new change and new life with their significant other. Sacrifices happen in life all the time, but not all of them are for the better. In this case, Joe and Delia both sacrifice their own happiness in what working fields they are currently working in to earn money in order to support both of them, not knowing that neither of them is really able to pursue their dreams. This is ironic in some way, and sacrificial in others. Not only that, but Delia sacrifices her delicate hands and basically her complete and utmost safety in order to work or rougher jobs, the same being said for Joe. This serves to prove that when someone loves, no service seems too hard. This obviously relates to the fact that both of them are talented in art in some way, but seeing as they both put this aside for their love of one another, we should completely disregard the first quote and live our lives more significantly related to the quote that we are presented with at the end of the novel.
In conclusion, A Service of Love by O Henry talks about two people, Joe and Delia, who puts their personal passions and arts aside in order to financially support one another because they live in poverty, and end up finding out that they actually work in the same place; a laundromat. It is a very funny story with a hidden meaning behind it. If we were to assess both, we can start with the irony. The fact that both of them happened to be working the same job that they pretended not to work at is hilarious, because we can just clearly see from this point on that they are looking out for each other and love can genuinely not get any more pure. Now, let's analyze the meaning behind “When one loves one’s art, no service seems too hard.” that is presented at the beginning and “When one loves, no service seems too hard.” at the end. This sort of just relates to the irony that they both love each other very much to be working hard and not fun or interesting jobs. Originally, they both thought that the other person was doing some kind of art, which makes the quote at the beginning relevant. However, when they later find out that they are both just working boring and plain jobs for each other's so-called art, the quote at the end seems much more relevant in this case.
Comments