The goal of the essay was to describe different types of love in accordance with a short story we ready called "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" by ZZ Packer
I still need help with the conclusion to help wrap it all up and any type of editing will help. Also, if you have any advice with transitions or the flow of the paper please comment on it
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud" (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love is something that cannot be measured with a ruler or any other measuring device. The magnitude can only be determined by the individual and how important it is to them in their own personal lives. Love is universal and travels through time. There are many types of love in "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" by Packer such as puppy, companionate, and tough. The two girls go through each type of love as their relationship grows together at school.
To begin with, Dina and Heidi start with the most common type of love which is puppy love. Puppy love is merely an innocent temporary crush on someone that you don't know well. Heidi is the first to experience this crush on Dina when she consistently shows up everywhere Dina is. For example, Dina "thought that that first encounter would be the last of Heidi, but then her head appeared in a window of Linsly-Chit...Next, she swooped down a flight of stairs in Harkness. She hailed me from across Elm Street and found me in the Sterling Library stacks" (Packer 572). Dina could have considered this strange and unusual but instead she actually tolerated it. Furthermore, Heidi was waited for Dina after her session with Dr. Raeburn in order to speak with her but during their conversation Heidi put her arm around Dina and was no refused at all. I believe Dina had to have a small crush or interest in Heidi as well because she would tolerate these small gestures. Also, Dina's psychiatrist Dr. Raeburn notices that Dina is bothered by the fact that Heidi is going out on a date with Mr. Dick again. He asks Dina if she has ever had a romantic interest before or just a seemingly small crush. Dina responds by telling him a story of a young boy she had met when she was sixteen that had asked to walk her home from the grocery store. However, Dina told Dr. Raeburn a lie about kissing the boy and thought "I couldn't tell him the rest: that I had not wanted the boy to walk me home, that I didn't want someone with such a nice shoes to see where I lived" (Packer 577). Dina probably has a small crush on Heidi but she is too ashamed to admit any type of feeling towards her. As you can see, she couldn't tell the truth so obviously it does have some effect on her.
Next, the two experience companionate love, which are the feelings of warmth towards a friend with whom you love to spend time with. Dina and Heidi both took jobs in the Dinner Hall to clean after everyone had left. In the first instance, Heidi began to ask Dina what was in store for her future and slowly the conversation turned into a bit of flirtation. The weather outside was cold and tonight was the night where they had to wash the floors with a hose. Dina decided it was too cold to even go outside in their already wet uniforms and they should just take their showers inside the dining hall with the hose. As Dina undressed, Heidi expressed her objection for the whole situation with such phrases like "You've flipped...I mean, really, psych-ward flipped" (Packer 580). On the other hand, when she began to spray Dina with the hose she was laughing and seemed like she actually liked the situation. Heidi was probably just not showing her true emotions because she thought that this could have been a test from Dina to see if she was gay or not. Once Dina was completely rinsed off, she told Heidi it was her turn to undress and get washed off. While Dina was spraying Heidi she turned up the water pressure and Heidi slipped but she didn't get up instead she rolled back and forth. Dina falls in love with Heidi in this moment while she watched her roll around on the floor. For example, Dina thought she "began to love Heidi that night in the dish room, but who is to say that I hadn't begun to love her the first time I met her? I sprayed her and sprayed her, and she turned over and over like a large beautiful dolphin, lolling about in the sun" (Packer 580). As previously stated, Dina admits to her crush from the moment she met Heidi and even goes as far as calling her beautiful. In the second instance, Heidi started sleeping over at Dina's place more often and they would sleep head to head. One night, Heidi started to compliment Dina's hair and began to touch it in the darkness. Dina described her slowly passing through her hair "til [her] scalp tingled" (Packer 581). As Heidi started to move towards the edge of Dina's face her "fingertips stopped for a moment, as if checking [her] pulse, then resumed" (Packer 581). Furthermore, Heidi took Dina's hand from under the blanket to feel her own hair and Dina described Heidi's smell that was "something richer, murkier. A bit dead, but sweet" (Packer 581). The two girls really start to develop unspoken feelings for each other here. As you can see, the comfort level between the two is like that of a boy and girl slowly getting together and accepting each other for who they are.
Undoubtedly, tough love is something that every human being has experienced or showed to another. Dina shows tough love as a part of her denial of her feelings for Heidi as she still feels ashamed of the fact that she could have feelings for the same sex. For example, when Heidi comes to speak with Dina after weeks of no contact, she is crying about her mother having cancer but she doesn't get the comfort she seeks from Dina. Dina replies to Heidi's crying by saying "it's alight. It's not a big deal" (Packer 582). When she explains the situation to her psychiatrist, she "wanted to say exactly the opposite. I meant that I knew what it was like to have a parent die" (Packer 582). Dina shows tough love due to her denial of her feelings but you can see that actually wanted to comfort Heidi and relate to her in order to make her feel better. Furthermore, when Heidi's mother passed away, the dean of the school pulled Dina aside to tell her that they would pay for the trip to Vancouver. Dina still in denial lashes out to say "what about my ticket back? Maybe the shrink will pay for that" (Packer 583). Later in the day, Dina packed all of her bags and went to Heidi's room to go with her on the trip. Heidi was in her room with a group of her friends from the lesbian group at her school. Cynthia was trying to comfort Heidi by telling her "you've got our numbers, and Vancouver's got a great gay community" (Packer 594). Her statement triggered Dina's tough love and as a reaction she said "she's going to a funeral, not a 'save the Dykes' rally" (Packer 584). Furthermore, Heidi pulled Dina away from the girls into the bathroom to have a one on one conversation. Heidi wanted an explanation for Dina's actions and why she had been ignoring her for months. Constantly, Heidi was seeking comfort from Dina but all she was receiving was the tough love from her denial. As a last resort, Heidi repeated that her mother was dead and the expression on her face was "she looked like someone waiting for a train" (Packer 584). Dina replied by saying "she's going to be dead for a long time" (Packer 584). Again, Dina completely does the opposite of how she feels and instead of comforting Heidi, she pushes her away even further. Heidi ends up going to Vancouver alone while Dina moves back home. Her use of tough love was only a reaction to her denial of her true feelings.
In conclusion, Dina and Heidi went through various different types of love while getting to know each other and develop their relationship.
I still need help with the conclusion to help wrap it all up and any type of editing will help. Also, if you have any advice with transitions or the flow of the paper please comment on it
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud" (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love is something that cannot be measured with a ruler or any other measuring device. The magnitude can only be determined by the individual and how important it is to them in their own personal lives. Love is universal and travels through time. There are many types of love in "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" by Packer such as puppy, companionate, and tough. The two girls go through each type of love as their relationship grows together at school.
To begin with, Dina and Heidi start with the most common type of love which is puppy love. Puppy love is merely an innocent temporary crush on someone that you don't know well. Heidi is the first to experience this crush on Dina when she consistently shows up everywhere Dina is. For example, Dina "thought that that first encounter would be the last of Heidi, but then her head appeared in a window of Linsly-Chit...Next, she swooped down a flight of stairs in Harkness. She hailed me from across Elm Street and found me in the Sterling Library stacks" (Packer 572). Dina could have considered this strange and unusual but instead she actually tolerated it. Furthermore, Heidi was waited for Dina after her session with Dr. Raeburn in order to speak with her but during their conversation Heidi put her arm around Dina and was no refused at all. I believe Dina had to have a small crush or interest in Heidi as well because she would tolerate these small gestures. Also, Dina's psychiatrist Dr. Raeburn notices that Dina is bothered by the fact that Heidi is going out on a date with Mr. Dick again. He asks Dina if she has ever had a romantic interest before or just a seemingly small crush. Dina responds by telling him a story of a young boy she had met when she was sixteen that had asked to walk her home from the grocery store. However, Dina told Dr. Raeburn a lie about kissing the boy and thought "I couldn't tell him the rest: that I had not wanted the boy to walk me home, that I didn't want someone with such a nice shoes to see where I lived" (Packer 577). Dina probably has a small crush on Heidi but she is too ashamed to admit any type of feeling towards her. As you can see, she couldn't tell the truth so obviously it does have some effect on her.
Next, the two experience companionate love, which are the feelings of warmth towards a friend with whom you love to spend time with. Dina and Heidi both took jobs in the Dinner Hall to clean after everyone had left. In the first instance, Heidi began to ask Dina what was in store for her future and slowly the conversation turned into a bit of flirtation. The weather outside was cold and tonight was the night where they had to wash the floors with a hose. Dina decided it was too cold to even go outside in their already wet uniforms and they should just take their showers inside the dining hall with the hose. As Dina undressed, Heidi expressed her objection for the whole situation with such phrases like "You've flipped...I mean, really, psych-ward flipped" (Packer 580). On the other hand, when she began to spray Dina with the hose she was laughing and seemed like she actually liked the situation. Heidi was probably just not showing her true emotions because she thought that this could have been a test from Dina to see if she was gay or not. Once Dina was completely rinsed off, she told Heidi it was her turn to undress and get washed off. While Dina was spraying Heidi she turned up the water pressure and Heidi slipped but she didn't get up instead she rolled back and forth. Dina falls in love with Heidi in this moment while she watched her roll around on the floor. For example, Dina thought she "began to love Heidi that night in the dish room, but who is to say that I hadn't begun to love her the first time I met her? I sprayed her and sprayed her, and she turned over and over like a large beautiful dolphin, lolling about in the sun" (Packer 580). As previously stated, Dina admits to her crush from the moment she met Heidi and even goes as far as calling her beautiful. In the second instance, Heidi started sleeping over at Dina's place more often and they would sleep head to head. One night, Heidi started to compliment Dina's hair and began to touch it in the darkness. Dina described her slowly passing through her hair "til [her] scalp tingled" (Packer 581). As Heidi started to move towards the edge of Dina's face her "fingertips stopped for a moment, as if checking [her] pulse, then resumed" (Packer 581). Furthermore, Heidi took Dina's hand from under the blanket to feel her own hair and Dina described Heidi's smell that was "something richer, murkier. A bit dead, but sweet" (Packer 581). The two girls really start to develop unspoken feelings for each other here. As you can see, the comfort level between the two is like that of a boy and girl slowly getting together and accepting each other for who they are.
Undoubtedly, tough love is something that every human being has experienced or showed to another. Dina shows tough love as a part of her denial of her feelings for Heidi as she still feels ashamed of the fact that she could have feelings for the same sex. For example, when Heidi comes to speak with Dina after weeks of no contact, she is crying about her mother having cancer but she doesn't get the comfort she seeks from Dina. Dina replies to Heidi's crying by saying "it's alight. It's not a big deal" (Packer 582). When she explains the situation to her psychiatrist, she "wanted to say exactly the opposite. I meant that I knew what it was like to have a parent die" (Packer 582). Dina shows tough love due to her denial of her feelings but you can see that actually wanted to comfort Heidi and relate to her in order to make her feel better. Furthermore, when Heidi's mother passed away, the dean of the school pulled Dina aside to tell her that they would pay for the trip to Vancouver. Dina still in denial lashes out to say "what about my ticket back? Maybe the shrink will pay for that" (Packer 583). Later in the day, Dina packed all of her bags and went to Heidi's room to go with her on the trip. Heidi was in her room with a group of her friends from the lesbian group at her school. Cynthia was trying to comfort Heidi by telling her "you've got our numbers, and Vancouver's got a great gay community" (Packer 594). Her statement triggered Dina's tough love and as a reaction she said "she's going to a funeral, not a 'save the Dykes' rally" (Packer 584). Furthermore, Heidi pulled Dina away from the girls into the bathroom to have a one on one conversation. Heidi wanted an explanation for Dina's actions and why she had been ignoring her for months. Constantly, Heidi was seeking comfort from Dina but all she was receiving was the tough love from her denial. As a last resort, Heidi repeated that her mother was dead and the expression on her face was "she looked like someone waiting for a train" (Packer 584). Dina replied by saying "she's going to be dead for a long time" (Packer 584). Again, Dina completely does the opposite of how she feels and instead of comforting Heidi, she pushes her away even further. Heidi ends up going to Vancouver alone while Dina moves back home. Her use of tough love was only a reaction to her denial of her true feelings.
In conclusion, Dina and Heidi went through various different types of love while getting to know each other and develop their relationship.
