Is it possible to show that each of the 'gesticulating ants' had in some way
             reached an 'end' to his or her life, and what are the main themes of
             each of these lives which might account for their deaths?
             Love is an intricate emotion, expressing itself in almost every conceivable form (except romantic attraction in this novel). As Wilder philosophizes "Many who have spent a lifetime in it can tell us less that the child that lost a dog yesterday." Wilder endeavors to expose the complex underlying elements, which cause the inability to love without ulterior motive, which characterizes each of the relationships in the novel, Bridge of the San Luis Rey. Through exploring Wilder's ultimate question whether or not a divine plan organizes and validates life and death, we discover life does not require a plan, as love is the only meaning to life. It is what links the land of the living to the land of the dead and brings light to the darkness of suffering. Five seemingly unconnected lives plunged to their deaths when the bridge collapsed. Unconnected, apart from their experience with a perverse kind of love. From Pepita's almost religious idolatry of the Abbess to the Perichole's disbelief that someone could love her for whom she was, as she did not love herself. Prior to the tragedy, a point was reached where each victim realized their way of loving those who were dear to them, was impure, and inevitably the cause of their heartache and mental anguish
             The Marquesa de Montemayor's love for her daughter is the most obvious example of a perverse love addiction. The Marquesa obsessively became consumed by numerous attempts to receive a fraction of the attention she frequently succumbs to her daughter, Dona Clara. Her love was so suffocating it resulted in her daughter's departure of the country in an attempt to escape her excessive smothering. The Marquesa blames her obs...