The Perfect Relationship Essay Example

Have you ever fantasized about having the perfect relationship? That's because literature has raised our standards too high. Writers lead us to believe that our relationships will end up the same way they do in novels, but in reality, they won't. Many readers have been deceived by romance novels, which have led them to believe that women should be rescued by a strong man, or that love is perfect and easy, and that you will always agree with each other. Often people have unrealistic standards due to romance novels, and as a result, they can lose out on true love.

Children are brought up to believe that women just need to be saved by a man however in real life it doesn’t work that way. Fairy Tales such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty give children the idea that all women will be saved by a strong man with true love's kiss.  First and foremost, how does kissing a woman save them from eternal death or a hundred years of slumber? Secondly, how come the man should save the woman. If children think this is supposed to happen in real life you could end up with men being overly possessive and women thinking they should always be saved. Literature has influenced society to think that women should just stand by and do nothing when women are more than capable to be the assertive ones in the relationship.

Relationships are complicated, and that is a fact. Literature portrays love like it's so easy and perfect and that it's just full of gift-giving, extravagant moments, hugs, and kisses.  Jenny Han's book To All The Boys I Loved Before is a good example of this. In this book, Lara Jean and Peter stage a fake relationship to get even with Peter's ex and to make Josh (a boy whom Lara Jean fell in love with) believe that Peter and Lara Jean were dating. They make their relationships look so simple. You see a lot of romantic kissing moments, notes sent to each other, and adorable snuggles but you don't see the major elements of a relationship which are honesty, trust, compromise, and most importantly facing the challenges that come your way together. These are the building blocks to a relationship and without them, your whole relationship will fall apart. In literature they never show these blocks and that's why it looks like it's the perfect relationship but in reality it's not.

Bruce Lee once said “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” We live in a world where people have high expectations for relationships and it's hard to live up to them. Romance novels make us believe that our relationship will end up happily ever after. Chasing someone through an airport might sound super romantic and sweet but, if you take that away the reality is that you have just spent loads of money on a plane ticket and you will probably miss this person because of all the crowds in airport security. Kissing in the rain is another moment that we all want to happen to us but if you take a closer look you can see that you would be cold and wet and wondering when you can go inside. It might be hard to let go of these expectations but if you keep them then you might miss something ‘perfect’ that was right under your nose. 

Romance novels are a good guilty pleasure but they make us believe that the perfect relationship is one in which the woman is saved by the good-looking strong man, that a relationship is really simple and only consists of gift-giving, kisses, and snuggles, and that what we read in these romantic stories are going to come true for us. Not every relationship is going to.