A Passion In Rome Essay Research Paper

A Passion In Rome Essay, Research Paper Passion turns into obsession, two confused souls bound together by fate: A complicated relationship between a lonely man and a self-destructive woman. Innocence lost, and identities found; there are some important themes, which take place in this novel as results of having extreme emotions. In Morley Callaghan s novel A passion in Rome , the two main characters, who are searching for salvation from failures, become intensely involved with each other and, in the process, encounter harsh obstacles and struggles instead. Their infatuation turns into obsession and self-destruction, their intense love for each other leads to jealousy and their failing intentions to each other resort into violence. The novel shows the mystery that every

emotion has a good and a bad side and when taken to extreme can cause agony to those affected. Passion can be the guiding light in one s life as it too can be the darkness in one s heart. Sam is led to the right path in life by his undying passion and desire for Carla. Sam is determined to help rehabilitate Carla. At this stage in their relationship nothing good is taken to the extreme, this phase in his life starts with compassion for Carla and her happiness. Sam s generosity grows to become his obsession and corruption of both individuals. As the relationship progresses Sam, the protector begins to evolve into an obsessive partner, where his love for her had turned to selfishness. Sam becomes overly controlling, his paternalistic behavior resist the fact that Carla can take

care of herself. His resistance to Carla s independence makes him violent and egotistic. Carla is lead to self-destruction as a result of her failure in music, which is her passion. She had one thing to call her own and when that stopped so did she — she stopped living. She could not handle disappointment and therefore she is not able to face her fear of failure. She turned to alcohol, which she believed would take her away from the harsh reality of broken dreams and sorrow. Feelings of strong passion transforms to disturbing obsession, which leads to the collapse of the character. Sam has always been passionate about painting, it is the one true passion that was sustained in his life. Although painting was his real passion, he never once finished a picture. Sam is a lonely man

waiting for something as he describes it, to ignite his passion for painting again and finally create a masterpiece and finish it too. In recent days Sam has been losing interest in his paintings, nothing was arousing his imagination. Now suddenly I can t seem to bring myself to pick up a brush. It s like someone came along and cut out my heart. (Callaghan 8) Something was always missing, and that is why he could never finish a painting. Sam becomes determined to finish a painting, he paints none stop in order to find an inspiration. What ever talent he had to develop in the years of his obsession with his painting, was all like something he had saved up to use in his experience with her. (Callaghan 138)Which as a result puts a great amount of pressure on his social life. His

whole private life had been built around the painting. No one was close to him. (Callaghan 8) He ends up isolated from all of society and as a result of his obsession with painting. His father disowns Sam because he followed his own dreams to become a painter. They hadn t spoken to each other in years. The great Raymond s son wasn t supposed to have the right to choose his own life. (Callaghan 23) Sam s life has only one focus, which is painting, when he gives up on painting because of his failure as a painter his life takes a drastic turn for the worst as he falls apart emotionally. He began to notice that he had been starting and never finishing his paintings. The studio was full of unfinished pictures, as if the thing he had been wanting to say for years, in form of color,