“I refused to believe that love could take any other form than mine: I measured love by the extent of my jealousy.”
Maurice and Sarah always argue about jealousy. He is jealous of her on account of the past. She tells him honestly about her past – the affairs of the past mean nothing for her. She is faithful to her lover, as well as her husband, but this does not comfort Maurice, but on the contrary angers him. Sarah laughs at his anger, does not believe in his sincerity as her beauty, and Maurice is angry that Sarah is not jealous of him either on account of the past or of the future. Maurice thinks that jealousy can maintain and strengthen their relationship. However, he does not understand that jealousy is only a path to the destruction of love. Jealousy has only arguments, but love needs mutual respect and well-being.
“And that was the moment I would have chosen, the moment of absolute trust and absolute pleasure.”
During the war, Maurice and Sarah are just lying on the bed. They do not care. They do not think about death in these hours. Maurice even sometimes dreams of death – when you disappear, you will not have to get up, watch the flashlight flicker outside the window. Maurice does not care if he dies. The main thing is that at this moment he is happy and Sarah, her confidence, her body and the taste of her skin are with him. He is sure that eternity continues the moment of death, so he is calm. Maurice knows that if Sarah is with him at the time of his death, then this is the right place even for death. He loves Sarah so much that he becomes a fearless warrior with her even if he has to face death.
“Of course there is an end of hate as there is an end of love.”
After parting with Sarah, Maurice feels bad. He cannot even write the novels. However, after half a year, he notices that he does not think about Sarah all day and feels better. This is not the end – he buys a postcard and wants to write something to hurt. But when he writes an address, he does not want to hurt and he throws a postcard on the pavement. His love dies, as well as jealousy and hate. All feelings have their shelf life until you meet a person again, who presents you with these feelings. When Maurice meets Sarah again, he realizes that love comes to life and hatred ends.
