Lessons of Love by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Desperation, Love, and Torment… The short story “Lessons of Love” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is a perfect example of faulty love, people who abuse love, and people who feel so deep about their love they will do anything for their “partner”.

The girl in the story is a trust worthy, honest, and an innocent girl before she meets the guy of her dreams which changes her in many ways. The guy changes her personality traits by making her disloyal to her family and indirectly teaching her lie to them. For example, towards the end of the book her dad announces that he is moving, and that she has to move in with her grandma. She is so upset by this, that she tells her family that she has to stay for her studies, and she does this just to see this boy. She falls so head over heels for this boy, that she makes it seem as she would give up her whole life for him. The boy takes an innocent little girl and creates a demonically in love desperate girl. At the end of the story, the guy breaks her heart, and uses her, for her gorgeous looks.

In the story, it shows her changing herself by wanting to see the boy everyday. The boy works at the local supermarket and she convinces her family to eat more, and shop there more often, so she can see him. During one of these visits the boy says, “Excuse me”; to her, and she gets so happy that he noticed her. This made her more willing to see him. She is now obsessed with this boy, through love, and is trapped, because in her eyes this guy is perfect for her.

Now she has become in over her head about the boy. Her school just happens to be throwing a banquet. During the banquet, all she does is look at him, and when he glances at her she feels like she is in heaven. Towards they end of the banquet in the dark he kisses her for the enjoyment for himself. While she’s getting kissed by him, her father in the meanwhile is getting worried because the banquet had ended a while ago and she had not come yet. She ends up telling her father that she was busy doing something. This shows how unconditionally she loves him, and how she would do anything for this boy.

Analyzing this character, this girl, I realized that she is a desperate, shallow, loving person who just needs a guy in her life to make her feel better. At the end of her book, she goes back to school and finds him, and he cruelly acts like he does not know her. This shows how abusive and uncaring this man is. The moral of this story is, don’t judge a book by its cover, what looks good on the outside, doesn’t mean it is good on the inside.