Love and Family in What Makes Sammy Run, The Shipping News, and The Moral Compass
             I consider myself a success if I succeed in finding love and building a family. These are my goals in life and I strive to accomplish them. Being loved, knowing that there is somebody who cares about me, gives me pleasure in life. I feel appreciated; I feel I can rely on this person, and I feel that she needs me.
             I believe that everybody deserves to be loved for some reason or another. People are not always beautiful and smart, rich and intelligent. It is easy to look at a person and try to find his shortcomings. What is more important and harder to achieve is to try and find even one little thing and love the person because of it.
             Today, not many people believe in love. As a result of this, they are unable to maintain stable relationships or build healthy families. I can see it when I look at Sammy Glick, the main character in the book What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg. Sammy is a Jewish boy who learns to appreciate money rather that love. Sammy doesn't have any friends and he is not interested in finding somebody to be by his side. He is an individualist and all he needs is sex and money: "Sex hasn't much to do with friendship or love or any other of those virtuous relationships. Most people know that, but they don't like to admit it."
             Most people fake their emotions as if being in love is wrong. They are afraid that other people might consider them frail and weak. On the contrary, I believe that love makes me strong and helps me get over a variety of problems. I am surprised to see men who are scared to admit that they love their wives. I think it is the phony society that causes people to behave in such a way. "...we make our reputations by how much money we can publicly throw away." Everything is created on the base of image; there is nothing real.
             Al and Kit, however enjoy their life together...