Loveless

Identity and self-acceptance are key to character and plot development in Loveless. The central conflict in this novel is Georgia’s understanding of her identity and desires. She has internalized her family, friends, and larger society’s elevation of romantic relationships and families. By the time she graduates high school, she’s the only young person she knows who has never been kissed. Romantic comedies evoke idyllic fantasies in which teenage girls strive to be seen as sexualized beings. Georgia’s peers have kissed and most have had sex, and her parents have been in a loving marriage for decades. However, she has never had a real crush. She is repulsed by the prospect of kissing and uncertain how to adhere to societal expectations. Georgia believes in romance, but never experienced it herself.

When Georgia discovers the terms asexual and aromantic, her lack of desire suddenly makes sense to her. However, coming to terms with her aroace identity is a difficult journey. It challenges the future that her society prepared her for, as Georgia assumes she will never be happy without romance. Letting go of this message feels impossible, especially in her isolation. Sunil and Ellis are crucial to her character development because they prove she’s not alone in her identity. Their solidarity helps Georgia more readily accept her identity. The novel ends with her continuing her journey to self-acceptance, as she is not ready to lead an asexual club or tell her parents about her identity. Though she has not fully accepted herself, she has accepted the reality of her journey.

Pip also experiences a journey toward identity and self-acceptance. She is confident about being gay, but never had a queer community to commiserate with. She has kissed girls before, but never had sex or a romantic relationship. Pip worries this is because there’s something unlikeable about herself. She also berates herself for constantly developing crushes on straight girls. When she meets Rooney, she falls in love but tries to fight this feeling by lashing out at her. Pip’s self-sabotage is indicative of her struggle with accepting herself as a person who can be loved by another girl. She learns through fights with Georgia and Rooney that if she’s honest, this vulnerability will make her happier.

Rooney also struggles with her identity and self-acceptance. She has difficulty accepting love because, like Pip, part of her believes she doesn’t deserve it. This is because she abandoned close friends in lieu of an emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend, which degraded her sense of self. Rooney feels lost because she gave up her identity for this ex-boyfriend for three years. Now in university, she tries to reinvent herself as a fun party girl. She has casual sex and insists it makes her happy. However, Rooney oversexualizes herself as a way of overcompensating for her low self-esteem. She pretends she has many friends when she doesn’t, and pretends she doesn’t like Pip when she loves her. Rooney has never been interested in a girl before, so she undergoes a significant shift in understanding her new needs. She also leans to accept that people like Georgia and Pip truly love her. Once she lets go of her past and embraces the possibility that she is loveable, her life becomes happier.