“Why is the measure of love loss?” (9/39). Repeatedly asks the narrator of Jeanette Winterson’s novel Written on the Body. Perhaps it is because we cannot quantify love. We cannot compare it to any love that has ever been written or even felt. And more notably, we cannot measure love by a number of months or even years because time does not solidify love. We see the theme of time presented throughout this novel due to narrator’s pessimistic view of love. After the narrator ends eir affair with Jacqueline, ey relates this ended relationship to wasted time. “I haven’t stretched out my hand to check the clock and felt the cold weight of those lost hours ticking in my stomach.” (71). Why is the narrator obsessed with the idea that love is like a ticking time bomb?
I have little sympathy for the narrator, who often goes after women who are already involved in committed relationships. The narrator has built this idea that love cannot last because he/she has never experienced a timeless love. The narrator must put a limit, an expiration date, on his/her relationships. I too, as any human, have built walls to protect myself – to be able to not have expectations, because no one likes to admit that they have been hurt. This wall is built for the narrator by an end date. The narrator compares wasted time eloquently to a cold weight, which is a recognizable feeling for most.
Prior to the ended romance with Jacqueline, the narrator begins to fall for Louise, but this feeling is different. “What are you that makes me feel thus? Who are you for whom time has no meaning?” (51). The narrator does not feel compelled to relate this tender relationship to time. Perhaps Louise will be the one to break em from this cycle and allow him to return his watch to his wrist.