[English] Text Response--Cosi

[liuetenant]

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Cosi condemns that “love is an emotional indulgence for the privileged few.” Discuss.

In Louis Nowra’s Cosi, love, connection and intimacy are shown to be vital requirements in all of our lives, adding meaning and purpose to our existence. However, in a time fraught with stereotypical preconceptions, revolutionary change and war, this notion of love and commitment was indelibly shunned and ignored. Yet, Nowra challenges this frivolous concept of love. While the characters outside the asylum’s walls show us that faithfulness in love is a concept to be ridiculed, it is the mental patients that expose us to its rich and powerful authenticity, and what it brings to the human experience. Love becomes far more than just a superficial matter, but rather, it grows to be an integral part of our lives.

While 1970s Australia regarded the notion of love as a distraction from things “more important” to society, Nowra adeptly unearths that love still retains a vital relevance to our lives. He reveals to us that is more important than simply being a superficial concept. Namely, Lewis constantly claims that love is “not so important nowadays.” Yet, his friendship with Nick and Lucy is shown to be unbreakable. This bond is an important part of his life, one that he values highly. Lewis trusts Nick, for instance, to “help” him through his job in the production of ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’—although Nick himself, does not uphold his side of the relationship. Even when Lewis ponders on the idea of long-term “marriage” and loyalty to Lucy, he remains silent, hypocritically claiming that love is still unimportant compared to the Vietnam war. Instead, Lewis conforms to Nick and Lucy’s beliefs that love is “old-fashioned,” refusing to let his own opinions force a chasm between them. Thus, Nowra demonstrates, through Lewis’ strong desire to be wanted and loved, as the inescapable and all-consuming facet of love. Despite the perceptions where love is a hopeless “indulgence” for the world, Nowra proves to us that love remains an omnipresent part of to the human experience.   

Similarly, love is shown to be more vital to the human experience than politics or war can ever be. In 1970s Australia, love is deemed to be only “an emotional indulgence,” an idealistic pursuit only possible for the “privileged few,” since nowadays, it is “health, procreation and equality” that must “come first.” Indeed, Nowra’s ‘outside’ characters, Nick and Lucy, the typical student radicals, wholeheartedly encapsulate this belief. Their strong and sound vernacular in blatantly declaring, “love doesn’t mean anything,” represents the wider society and the accepted views and values of that time. Love thus was pushed to one side and neglected. However, Nowra challenges this seemingly ‘commendable’ view. He juxtaposes Nick and Lucy’s values against the mental patients’, showing us that their views and values are far more skewed and distorted than we first perceived. Nick shamelessly declares that “Lucy is [only] having sex” with him, and “sleeping with Lewis.” This brazen betrayal of Lewis tears their friendship apart, thus revealing that love, when based on simply sex, is corrosive and ‘corrupt.’ By stark contrast, Henry’s pure morals in defending the sanctity of love prove to be warm and rich. His vehement defence, claiming love is to be one based on loyalty and “innocence” demonstrates that it is a relevant matter to society. Despite “being the last to know things,” Henry’s surprising insight captures our attention and reveals what it is that should truly be stood up for society—that is, love and not war. Rather than focus on love as a superficial and flimsy “indulgence” against the backdrop of war, Nowra exposes us to how love is an essential matter to our loves.

Furthermore, Nowra demonstrates that beneath the superficial ideal of love, it is far more complex and intricate than we first believed. As the protagonist, Lewis, journeys through his experiences in the institution, we learn from him that “without love, the world wouldn’t mean much.” The friendships and bonds that he forms with the patients force him to realise that love is far more than a trivial rhetoric. Through the rough, yet enlightening events that he spends with the patients, Lewis grows and develops into a matured being. He comes to understand that love is a concept unable to be captured by a single definition, which finally allows him to break away from the superficial ideals of Nick and Lucy. For instance, Julie identifies the commitment love demands, stating that she will return to her girlfriend who has “stood by her, thick and thin.” Ruth, in addition, experiences a different side of love, where her boyfriend “put her in a wardrobe to stop her from running away.” The abusive nature of love is illuminated; this hidden layer reveals itself to be a intricate and realistic facet of love. Nowra thus shows a practical side of love, where is it far from the idealistic notion of love simply being “sex” and “indulgence.” This serious and more poignant outlook contradicts what society sees love to be, revealing that love is more complex and multi-layered than simply it being an “emotional indulgence” of that time.

In essence, Cosi shows that love is an enduring and significant part of to our lives. The intricate layers that add definition to love unearths how it is far more complex than society believes it to be. Through the characters, who all yearn for intimacy and connection, Nowra opens up the new perspective that love surpasses its definition of simply being an “emotional indulgence,” and is in fact a rich and meaningful necessity to our lives.