Seeking Signs

I think we’ve all been guilty at some point or another of looking for signs. In A Very Long Engagement, the main character, Mathilde, frequently tries to create signs that will confirm her belief that her long-lost fiancé is still alive, even though he’s been MIA for the few years following the end of World War I. As she sees more and more signs "confirmed," she feels her conviction grow and her motivation to find her fiancé is heightened. This pursuit very much reflects the ideals of Romanticism because Romanticism focused a lot on our human connection with something more supernatural--something reason and logic couldn't quite explain. Throughout Mathilde's pursuit, she was told numerous times to give up, that her fiancé was gone, that she was going to end up hurting herself, but despite all the reason and logic fighting against her, she held on to belief and hope, her inexplicable certainty that he was alive.

Holding on to those views of transcending reason during a time of war when everything seemed grim and hope was a distant memory for many people would have been challenging, but this just shows how powerful the ideas were of the Romantic Era. It was so important that those ideas preceded WWI because without that connection to something bigger, all hope would have been lost. If the war would have started after the Enlightenment, the logic and facts of the carnage and horror would have been enough to beat away any glimpse of hope.

A Very Long Engagement goes to show that the themes of Romanticism didn't disappear after the war. They were what kept people sane, with or without the happy ending. The feelings of hope and peace that you have even when there is no reason for them to exist are what keep the world moving forward. We should all be grateful to Romanticism for helping us to trust in these supernatural connections that keep us moving forward.

image credit: public domain images via Wikimedia Commons