“You have not chosen one another,
but I have chosen you for one another.” ~~C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
Hi all,
I'm still hoping to write something for Valentine's but it's
definitely not ready today. Instead, I decided to do
another trope-themed newsletter.
I hope you're all doing well and staying warm!
God bless,
Jenni
The Four Loves... in Tropes
(links to all stories are here)
This time around, I wanted to feature love-themed tropes for
Valentine's Day but I didn't just want to highlight romantic
elements from the Dyeland stories. So I decided to take a
page from C.S. Lewis and focus on the Four Loves: Storge, Philia,
Eros, and Agape. If you need a refresher on the Four Loves,
tvtropes.org has a good overview here.
Storge (Family)
The
Dutiful Son- Max doesn't fill this role because his siblings
leave or prove incompetent. It's just that he's the only
real adult among them. Avi and Belle are small
children. Shelby, though mature, is still a minor. And
while Violeta is technically an adult, given she's an angel being
in her mid-twenties doesn't quite mean the same as it would with
humans. She's still very young and immature. So when
things get rocky as with the beginning of the pandemic or Andrew
being injured after an attack by demons, Max packs his family up
and moves to Willowveil to help out.
Hereditary
Hairstyle- Not hereditary since they're not biologically
related but Vincent, JenniAnn, and Shelby all have long blonde
hair that they tend to wear down. Shelby subverts it a
little, of late, by putting in purple and green streaks.
Adult
Adoptee- Max was well into adulthood when he was adopted by
Andrew and JenniAnn. In fact, JenniAnn is only seven years
older than Max. However, the adoption finally gave Max the
loving parents he'd been missing. Shelby was very nearly
this since Andrew and JenniAnn only very recently officially
adopted her. However, since she's seventeen she's still
technically a child. Unlike Max, she had Andrew and JenniAnn
acting as parental figures for most of her life. They only
made it official because Shelby's older brother, Asher, got
concerned about what would happen if Shelby had a medical
emergency and no legal guardians.
Raised
By the Community- This happens in the Tunnels. While
couples certainly have and raise their own children, the orphaned
and abandoned children the Tunnel dwellers take in are raised by
the community as a whole for the most part. There are a few
exceptions. Father/Jacob raised Vincent as his son.
While the Tunnel community helped, Andrew and JenniAnn raised
Shelby and she often lived with them including currently.
Playboy
Has a Daughter- While Josef had already settled down
somewhat following Sarah's death, finding Daisy really put an end
to his free love existence. He ended up marrying Amber-Marie
and they're raising Daisy together. Josef is devoted to his
wife and child and definitely not looking to play the field any
more. Though this didn't involve a daughter, Eric
experienced something similar when he met Neela and her son,
Zane. Supporting Neela through Zane's health struggles
forced Eric to grow up and set aside his playboy ways.
Not
Under the Parents' Roof- This is somewhat subverted.
In "God With Us," it's revealed that Andrew and JenniAnn let Joccy
stay in Takoda's room (where they're obviously not having sex but
could be canoodling) so long as they're discreet. Andrew and
JenniAnn believe that certain romantic activities are best
experienced within a committed relationship and they didn't want
Belle bursting into Takoda's room and getting the wrong idea at a
time when Joccy's and Takoda's relationship wasn't very well
defined. I assume they've also stressed to Belle that it's
not okay to burst into people's bedrooms but... kids will be
kids.
Philia (Friends)
Token Houseguest- Willowveil has two: Takoda and
Marty. The former was just supposed to stay there for a bit
while he was working out some issues with Joshua. And then I
just never bothered to move him out. Assumedly one day he
and Joccy will settle somewhere. As for Marty... It
was kind of the same thing. I think I originally wrote that
he'd occasionally use an attic room to do some writing. But
then that just morphed into him having his own garret. I
dunno. I just like them as part of the household, I
guess!
The
Clan- Even though I tend not to refer to them as such, I do
think of the Dyeland characters as being part of the Dyeland Clan,
the St. G's Clan, the Vampire Clan, or the Tunnels Clan.
Obviously, the lines get blurry as some people belong to more than
one group. And the lines will blur even more once the
children grow up and intermarry. So really it's more like
sub-clans beneath the umbrella Friends Clan.
Intergenerational
Friendship- JenniAnn and Chava grew very close prior to the
latter's death. Behnam is close friends with the elderly
Stanley who works at the library with him. While I never got
around to writing about it, Stanley actually moved in with the
Al-Mitras during the height of the pandemic so he didn't have to
experience lockdown on his own.
You
Are Not Alone- The Friends are pretty great at this.
When tragedy or otherwise hard times strike, they run the gamut
from fairly normal supportive things (dropping off meals) to more
extensive help (letting people move in with them). When
Andrew has to head to Sheol, a slew of Friends spend the night in
the Fields of Gold with him and his family. Once Andrew is
gone, they rally around JenniAnn and the kids and try to keep them
reasonably calm and distracted until his return. When Joshua
is shot, the Friends arrange a pretty big candlelight vigil to
support him and stand against racial and religious violence.
When Emma was struggling with addiction and self-harm, a few of
the Friends went to her rescue and Peter let her move in with
him.
Staying
With Friends- While Zoe is able to continue living with her
mom, Joccy just can't. So she moves into the Tunnels.
Now she spends considerable time at Willowveil since Takoda lives
there. Everyone rallied around her to provide her with the
support she needed.
Eros (Romance)
Opposites
Attract- I already covered this one very briefly but I'd now
add that Andrew and JenniAnn are actually a good example with a
twist of something I can't quite name. Not only are they
opposites in some ways but the things that make them opposite seem
like they should be traits of the other person. For example,
in "God the Gloom," JenniAnn brings up how the two of them remind
her of the "kite and the line" metaphor from The Haunting of
Hill House. But while you'd expect the human to be the
more grounded one and the angel the airy one, Andrew is actually
the grounded one and JenniAnn is the airy one. And this is
actually borne out. JenniAnn's job is teaching theology
which is a very intellectual, spiritual thing. Meanwhile,
Andrew's a carpenter. The language they use towards each
other plays with this, too. Andrew sometimes refers to
JenniAnn as "my angel" (quite seriously) while she'll refer to him
as "my man" (less seriously... maybe?). And... they're not
wrong. After a tough assignment, JenniAnn does comfort and
counsel Andrew which are pretty angelic things to be doing.
And Andrew's filling a pretty traditional, gendered role in the
family as the primary breadwinner and protector. Andrew is
also considerably more worldly than JenniAnn which is probably not
surprising given he's so much older. But it does sometimes
seem a little goofy when he's had to explain sex related things to
her when his species is completely asexual and the vast majority
of her species is sexual. Personality-wise, they're also
pretty different. While I'm not sure I'd say Andrew is
extroverted, he at least copes much better with meeting new
people. Meanwhile, JenniAnn very seldom goes anywhere unless
someone she already knows tags along. Andrew is more apt to
keep things to himself. JenniAnn needs to talk her feelings
out. Although, over the years, there has been a lot more of
Andrew being more vocal about his emotions.
Romantic
Fusion- Sort of. In "A Thousand Years," JenniAnn has
the following dream which she interprets as seeing the mind of God
before Creation:
"It was like I was walking in a galaxy. But as I passed
the stars, I saw they weren't really stars. They were
people a-and animals and plants and creatures I've never seen
before! And I saw two in the distance. And I was
drawn to them. There was... something like a bubble around
everything but these two... they were getting so, so
close. And I was afraid that the bubbles would burst and
then something bad would happen to them. And the bubbles
did collide. But it was like they just merged into one
bubble. And the two stars.... people... they
touched. That was us, Andrew! I'm sure of it!"
Whatever is happening there, I think it's the case for all anam
caras and not something exclusive to Andrew and JenniAnn.
And it's not their actual selves that merge. They remain two
separate entities. But whatever that protective bubble is
merges. I envision it as something like twins in the same
womb.
What Measure Is a Humanoid?- So... TBAA left it kind
of ambiguous what the angels' true forms looked like. Were
they just what we saw on TV but perpetually glowing? Or...
was it something else? Google "Biblically accurate
angels." Now imagine JenniAnn and Arthur acting lovey-dovey
with those beings. It's... interesting.
Relationship
Writing Fumble- I did this. I never intended for Josef
and Amber-Marie to end up together. I just figured
Amber-Marie would help Josef learn to parent Daisy. But then
two different people who I don't believe were in contact with each
other asked me if they were going to be a couple because it sure
seemed like it. So I went ahead and went that route.
And, really, I'm glad I did. I think, originally, I just
found the idea of Josef always loving Sarah and never moving on
romantic. But... that's kind of a lot. Finding someone
else after a loss in no way diminishes a person's love for their
previous partner. After all, Peter was married before
Emma. That doesn't mean Emma is second-best or that Jaz is
forgotten.
Disabled
Love Interest- I would like to get better about disability
representation in the Dyeland stories. But, for now,
JenniAnn's epilepsy is a recurring element in her relationship
with Andrew. Because she's unable to drive, there were at
least a couple of times when Andrew had to go pick her up when she
found herself in a troubling situation. Andrew's gotten very good
at getting JenniAnn into bed or some other relaxing location when
she does have a seizure (often stress-induced). The tables
have turned before when Andrew had two separate incidents of
traumatic brain injury. The most important thing is that
whichever one of them is struggling, the other steps up and tends
to their partner's needs and those of the family.
Clay was burned over a significant portion of his body, including
his face, while serving in Iraq. Initially, he hid in a
hospital room and largely refused contact with others. But
once Joshua broke the ice, Clay and Kylie struck up a romance
rather quickly. While Kylie is sensitive to how the scars
impact her husband, she's made it pretty clear that they have no
bearing on her attraction to him.
I Love You, Vampire Son- Isolde turned Marco into a vampire,
at his suggestion, when he was dying. He had TB which was a
death sentence at the time so he told her to either drain his
blood to give her energy to escape their increasingly dangerous
village OR turn him into a vampire, too, so they could get away
together. She chose the latter. That was the 1500s and
they've been together ever since.
Agape (Unconditional/Godly)
Ideal
Hero- Joshua... obviously. But I also think Andrew
fits. Unlike Joshua, he's not sinless. He can be a
little prideful. But he always puts others above himself and
he never sets out to be unkind. He chose to age alongside
JenniAnn so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable and so his children
could have a normal childhood. When demons attacked them,
Andrew did everything he could to protect JenniAnn even to the
point of being seriously harmed himself. He went to Sheol to
stop the demons from tormenting his friends. And I could go
on.
Hope
Springs Eternal- Even in Hell. God's love is so
immense and unconditional that He continues to try to reach those
in Hell by sending a supernatural bus there to pick up anyone
willing to get on. Yehuda eventually does. When Andrew
goes to Sheol, he brings a message of hope that leads to Eben and
the Nephilim being freed. And, as will unfold in upcoming
stories, God definitely never gave up on the wily serpent of Eden
aka Crowley.
Go
and Sin No More- Joshua tends to be this way when people
discover who he is. He doesn't harp on what they've
done. He doesn't punish them. He acknowledges the harm
that may have unfolded but then he moves on and encourages them to
do the same. The only exceptions are people who stubbornly
refuse to take responsibility for the pain they've caused
others. Joshua is less warm with them... but he still loves
them.
*~*~*
This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye
whose work highlighted several facets of the Four Loves.
(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this
page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS
Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water
Productions. They are not being used to seek
profit.)