As I've grown older, I've argued with myself with what love is and why we fall in love. Is it because love is an innate feeling that we express for people like our family and friends? Or is love something that we express in actions and words, or rather, something that develops over time? We know that love often leads to loss, heartbreak, and unexplainable pain; so why would we try and find someone to love and in turn, someone to love us? Along with these complex questions, I've wondered if love in any state is a selfless act that compels us to put others before ourselves or if it is actually a selfish and egotistic pretense to mask our own problems. "The April Witch" by Ray Bradbury explores a multitude of questions that pop up when it comes to the perplexing puzzle that is love and more specifically, if the act of love is actually selfless or selfish. .
Selfishness is a quality that we actively apply to and identify in others, but if we, ourselves, are labeled as "selfish" we reject that assertion not wanting to be too self-absorbed and negligent on the needs of others. But why would we fall in love is it wasn't beneficial to ourselves in some way? And if we want to reap the benefits of love, wouldn't that mean that love is actually a selfish act? Bradbury's short story, "The April Witch," introduces the setting of the story as spring time in Illinois where the gentle breeze flows through the grasses, the flowers are blossoming and young girls everywhere fantasize about falling in love.The main character of the story, Cecy, like most of girls of her young and naive age, desperately desires to find and experience love for herself. However Cecy is unlike other girls due to the fact that she possesses magical powers that allow her to travel anywhere and everywhere through other people and things. She can literally soar as a dove, blow with the breeze, perch like a frog and experience life as these other things, while she leaves her "plain, bony body" behind in pursuit of adventure (#).