As I read I am continually struck by how literary heroes I encounter in novels do nothing to make accepting the realities of what (or whom) is actually out there any easier.    Elizabeth Bennett encounters the arrogant and off-putting Darcy, only to come to find him to be really not so bad as the novel concludes, and women to this day seem to swoon over the guy.  This has set up countless women to think they can actually experience a similar lovely metamorphosis in that boorish man-child they just met.  Sadly, it is not to be so. While in kindergarten it was pulling pigtails and telling saying we have cooties, as adults it is the not calling but letting us think you were interested in us because they are not man enough to say at the end of the date, “yeah, let’s not do this again, sorry.”  I guess despite Darcy, or any other bookish girls fantasy man, the sad fact is, they are a fantasy and not the reality.  There will never be a guarantee of the “meet-cute” in real life, the silly and inane way the two destined-for-life-and-love-and-passion characters meet in a book.  I admit I am particularly guilty of getting wrapped up in the literary fantasy men.  I guess as escapism and for pure fun it is not so bad, but as for being any model for how to conduct a real life relationship, I know it is imperative to look elsewhere or face total annihilation of the heart.  So sadly while Darcy, Gilbert, Captain Wentworth, etc. remain pretty on the page, they are destined to break your heart in reality.

K