Love and Destruction in Alice Hoffmans Here on Earth :: Hoffman Here on Earth Essays

Love and Destruction in Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth Dangerous love was an attraction for March in Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth. The story suggests that her love is pure from the beginning and that she could only love her counter part Hollis. The twist and turns that this novel brings shows the doom that falls upon March and Hollis's relationship. The affection grows to lust and then to a need for their bodies. March and Hollis's need for the love of each other lead to each of their destructions. March begins with an attraction to Hollis that starts to break down her family life. March sees Hollis for the first time when they were both in their early teen years. March observes Hollis from a window on the first day and lays claim to him, "From now on, he's mine." (17). Hollis does not talk in the beginning of the novel. This lack of communication does not allow March to see his background. She finds out that later on in the novel that Hollis is a very angry man, "... of some other scorching scent, which March would later come to believe was anger." (19). This is a lead to March that danger is in loving Hollis. Huffman suggest that the love of Hollis and March will be difficult when Hollis became possessive of March. She was preparing for a night at the Coopers and Hollis was jealous of the relationship that she had formed. He became violent with March, "He was twisting her wrist; as soon as she shook free, she backed away. 'Leave me alone' she said." (27). Huffman knows that a love with one of the partners being jealous and possessive does not work and she makes that clear from the beginning. At that point Hollis leaves March angry while Huffman knows that love must not be built on the jealous rampage of one man. March spends years waiting on Hollis with hopes that he will return to her,"...before she knew it the pane of glass had become her universe, the empty road her fate." (28). March goes on to become another person but she knows in her heart that she will always love Hollis. This dooms her character to a life of sadness and regret. Her family is always different. March will never truly love Richard, her husband, and this strains their marriage to the extreme as the novel continues on, "I'll never be in love with you.