Response to "The Love of My Life"

T.C. Boyle’s “The Love of My Life” is an abstract short story that follows the lives of two high school students, Jeremy and China.  Their relationship comes to an abrupt end when China gives birth and the couple decides to leave their baby in a dumpster to die.  This is not quite the story that I was expecting to read.  Anyway, the character’s relationship throughout the story slowly spirals downward.  I really liked Boyle’s intent to make an anti-teenage love drama.  Initially, my thoughts told me that this story was going to end in a rather lovely cadence.  Little did I know of the whirlwind to come. 

Jeremy and China make the transition from high school to college.  This is when China calls Jeremy to tell him that she is pregnant.  After much debate over the phone, China ultimately states that she would rather die from childbirth than go to the hospital.  After she gives birth and the father gets rid of the baby, both characters are arrested.  China is taken into custody after her hospital visit and Jeremy was woken up in his dorm room to police officers waiting to arrest him.

In the end, all China wanted to do was to see Jeremy.  She didn’t care about the amount of animosity she would receive for doing such a vicious act.  She wanted to see her true love, Jeremy.  China learns that she is going to testify against Jeremy in court while she is under house arrest.  In this moment she realizes that he is the love of her life.  She lies in bed, thinking of him and longing to be together.