The Analysis of Different View of Love in the Thorn BirdHave you ever heard of a bird named the thorn bird? Have you ever heard of the story of the thorn bird? As it it pointed out in the thorn birds "The bird with the thorn in its breast...and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters there is no awareness in it of the dying to come; it simply sings and sings until there is not the life left to utter another note." In the thorn birds, for Fiona's tragic and misplaced love to Pakeha and Maggie's selfless and persistent to Ralph , their pursuits for love are just like the thorn bird's pursuit for the thorn which is bitter and full of difficulty. Though Marie Carson's love to Ralph is crazy and selfish, it is still a kind of attitude to love in that time. Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds told a legendary love experience of the Cleary family history. It presented three different kind of attitudes to love mainly through the unforgettable love story happens between Ralph who is the Bishop of Rome and meggie who is 18 younger than Ralph.Colleen McCullough is making a point about three different kind of crazy, tragic and persistent love through the characters of Marie Carson, Fiona and Maggie. Marie Carson loves Ralph who is 27 younger than her but Ralph doesn't love her and he loves Maggie. Marie Carson decides to destroy the love between Ralph and Maggie. Fiona falls in love withPakeha who is a politician and has a family. Fiona is abandoned by Pakeha and marries Paddy because of reputation. Fiona finally realises that she loves Paddy until he dies. Maggie falls in love with Ralph who is a Godfather and much older than her. Ralph believes God but he cannot resisit loving Maggie. He lives in contradiction all the time. They all take a different attitude in the face of love. Their pursuits of love are untraditional and their experience of pursuing love reveals their contradictions, confusion and resistance in their deep heart.Mary Carson is Meggie's aunt. She is a scheming woman who relies on marrying a rich man to change her own destiny. She has been a widow for 33 years and her only son dies in the cradle. She doesn't want to have a close relation with anyone including man. She gives up sex and enjoys her high position in the ceter of herself. There is no age limit between love, she deeply falls in love when the 65-year-old woman meets Ralph who is very handsome and 27 years younger than her.it is destined to be a love without result since Ralph loves Meggie very much. faced with Ralph's casual indifference, disgust and contempt to her, she is painful and she cannot accept it. Gradually she realizes that Ralph loves Meggie and she hates her own age. She often stares at them in jealousy. However, aging and age cannot prevent her loving Ralph, just as she said to Ralph, "Inside this stupid body I'm still young-I still feel, I still want, I still dream, I still kick up my heels and chafe at restrictions like my body.Old age is the bitterest vengeance our vengeful God inflicts upon us. Why doesn't He age our minds as well?"In her testament passage, Mary Carson's writes，" Ralph, I love you, so much I would have killed you for not wanting me, except that this is a far better form of reprisal. I'm not the noble kind; I love you but I want you to scream in agony. Because, you see, 1 know what your decision will be. I know it as surely as if I could be there, watching. You'll scream, Ralph, you'll know what agony is "this shows Mary Carson's love to Ralph is selfish and crazy. Her love to him is based on the premise of having, if she cannot get it, she will choose to destroy and retaliate. Mary Carson's views on love is the same with her control over the rights and wealth. She either absolutely own it or completely destroy it. "So read on, my beautiful, ambitious priest! Read my will, and decide your fate." She knows the weaknesses of Ralph, she carefully designed a bait at the last moment of life ---- the legacy of 1,300 pounds to template Ralph, which will completely defeat her rival Meggie and let she always be painful. Her revenge successfully operates after she dies, it changes the whole life of Ralph and Meggie.Mary Carson who is not willing tobe a vassal of man. she wants to firmly control her own destiny by marring a rich man. She does possesses a lot of wealth , owns high power and successfully retaliate on Ralph and Maggie but at the same time she becomes an eccentric old lady anddisgusted by people. Therefore, this selfish and crazy kind of love cannot provide people with happiness. Though it will bring others great pain but she also cannot get peace of her mind and satisfaction of love.Fiona is the first thorn bird that puts the thorn into her chest in Cleary family. She has worked, fought and resisted on the road of pursuing happiness.however, she eventually gives in to fate and spends her rest of live quietly.Fiona was born in a noble family. She is aloof and proud but also stubborn and tough. she falls in love with a married man named Pakeha who is a politician and gives birth to the illegitimate son named Frank. It is a wrong choice at the beginning of Fiona falling in love with a married man. She knows she is wrong but she never regrets. Just like she said to her daughter, " Extraordinary or merely ordinary, I'm a very unhappy woman. For one reason or another I've been unhappy since the day I met Pakeha. Mostly my own fault. I loved him, but what he did to me shouldn't happen to any woman...Well, all that's past. What I wanted to say was that it's wrong"In order to have a good reputation and future, Pakeha abandoned Fiona. In order to keep Cleary family a good reputation and protect her son, Fiona is forced to marry Paddy. Paddy doesn't dislike and avoid her but loves her very much. However, the love between them is not mutual. Fiona doesn't love him and she doesn't love anyone except Frank. All day she is serious and expressionless even Paddy doesn't know what she isthinking. As it is describes it the thorn birds" I kept hanging on to Frank, and ignoring the rest of you. Ignoring Paddy, who was the best thing ever happened to me. Only I didn't see it. I was too busy comparing him with Pakeha. Oh, I was grateful to him, and I couldn't help but see what a fine man he was". Paddy is a good husband. He deeply loves his wife with inferiority and admiration when he is alive. Fiona doesn't realizes that Paddy is the one who loves her most until Paddy dies. She tells Ralph,"Two days ago I discovered how much I love Paddy, but it was like all of my life too late. Too late for him, too late for me. If you knew how I wanted the chance to take him in my arms, tell him I loved him! " Fiona's love is tragic and misplaced. She lives in pain and she thinks she loves Pakeha and will not love anyone else. She behaves indifference and resistance to her husband. She finally realizes that she loves her husband until he dies. She should be happy with the love from Paddy but she doesn't cherish it. She loves Pakeha but he has a family. In Fiona's whole life, she doesn't get the person she loves at the same time she loses the person who loves her. She is an unlucky woman.Fiona has been influenced by the feminist movement which push her dare to pursue true love without ignoring what other people may think. At that time, she doesn't has the power to change her fate. The different between ideal and reality makes her in a long pain. She complains about the destiny but has to give in to it. She lives in contradiction.Meggie is just like a thorn bird, she begin to search for the thorn when she is young. She knows it is a wrong road, it is a road that she cannot get happiness but she still persistent in exploring and fighting. She bravely fights with God and works hard for her love though she is destined to be failed.Meggie is not only a beautiful, charming but also a persistent and stubborn woman.Ralph is fascinated by her when she is only 9 years old. Meggie shares everything with him. She gradually grows up with the accompany of Ralph and she falls in love with him.she bravely and sincerely expresses her love to Ralph.however,Ralph is a man full of contradiction. On the one hand, Ralph loves her at the first sight when he sees her, as he said, "She had moved him unbearably, and he didn't really know why. There was the color of her hair, which pleased him; the color and form of her eyes, like her mother's and therefore beautiful, but so much sweeter, more expressive; and her character, which he saw as the perfect female character, passive yet enormously strong." on the other hand, he believes God and longs for the power. finally He chooses to be the Bishop of Rome with the money that Mary Carson leaves between God and Meggie.Ralph is selfish since he both betrays God and Meggie and Meggie's love to him is unconditional.After going through a long pain, Meggie marries Luque who is much the same like Ralph but completely different in character.all hewants is to make money. Meggie realizes that it is wrong to regard Luque as Ralph since nobody can replace him.16 years after Meggie and Ralph get to know each other, they finally has a child.she said,"I didn't believe you, I actually thought I could beat God... I stole Ralph from God" Meggie pays all her attention to the boy and she thinks he is the embodiment of Ralph.he is the sign that indicates she defeats God.to her surprise, her son become a churchman just like his father and dies in an accident. For Meggie, she loses all her hope.Ralph first know that he has a son until his son dies. Now he is 71 years old and Meggie is 53 years old. at last, he dies in pain and regret. Meggie failed after she loses two most important man in her life. She never regrets because the love between them makes her life meaning. Her attitude to love is persistent ans selfish.In her whole life, she constantly fight with God for Ralph. Ralph chooses God but he has to admit that he loves Meggie more than God. They cannot be together in their life but they never separated in thir heart since Ralph will appear any time when she needs him.The three women presented three different kind of views on love through their characters. No matter they are crazy and selfish love, tragic and misplaced love or selfless and persistent love, they all represent their resistance to the traditional love. They shows that True love and all good things cannot get without unimaginable price to exchange. love needs insistence and contribution and it should be established based on themutual understanding, care and respect. Any selfish and greedy love at any time will be contempted by people. In the book, every one can be regarded as a thorn bird and they all strive for their goals. If you are a thorn bird, what kind of road will you choose?。