Love and Marriage

I believe that all of us are in a critical time period in our lives, one in which we can sympathize with Lucy's plight. She is under an immense amount of pressure and expectations as an English lady in the Victorian Era, but she is exposed to many things in Italy that open up an entire new part of herself, a part that is passionate and unruly and unpredictable, three things that Victorian England certainly is not. I see this as thematic to life in general, as a "head vs. heart" dilemma. Like Lucy, we all come to crossroads in our lives when we can either go along with what our families, our loved ones, even our fiances expect of us, OR we can follow our hearts to the ends of the earth, no matter how badly the world perceives it. I love this novel because Lucy shows us that if she can do it, with her situation, then anyone can.