Love at First Sight Exists

Love can be defined as a strong affection for one close to you. Love is a very powerful necessity in today’s world. It is the foundation of friendships, marriages as well as relative and couple relationships. This strong affection, called love, can be created through many ways; such as love at first sight or personal ties. Love at first sight is when one feels romantic passion for a complete stranger upon their first encounter. Love at first sight really exists.

The beautifully written novel Memoirs of a Geisha written by Arthur Golden captures a brilliant story about hardship, love and determination. At a young and tender age Chiyochan, the main character, was sold into the geisha district of Gion, Japan from the poor fishing village of Yoriodo. From the separation of her family, Chiyochan tries to run away but fails in doing so, resulting in a broken arm and punishment from her caretakers, Auntie and Granny. As punishment, she must serve Hatsumomo, a very cruel, callous and demeaning geisha, for the rest of her life. While running an errand, overwhelmed with grief and pain of her new life, she falls upon a stone near a river and begins to cry. Soon after, she is greeted by the Chairman of a wealthy electric company. He wipes away her tears and presents her with a handkerchief and coins to buy a shaved ice. As the Chairmain bids farewell, Chiyo prays that she will become a geisha to earn the notice of him in the future. Noticing her beauty, the Chairman hires a reputable and successful geisha in the Gion district, Mameha. Mameha adopts Chiyo as her younger sister and trains her to become a geisha. Through the guidance of Mameha, Chiyochan becomes an apprentice geisha and is renamed Sayuri. In the end of the novel, both the Chairman and Sayuri express their love for one another and he finally becomes her danna, a husband like figure who takes care of all her expenses.

Love at first sight can be demonstrated through the characterization of Chiyochan. This was formed when Chiyochan met the Chairman for the first time. She says, “The man who’d addressed me there on the street had this same kind of broad, calm face…his features were so smooth and serene…he was probably about forty-five years old, with gray hair combed straight back from his forehead…he seemed so elegant to me that I blushed and looked away” (Golden 128). At that very instant, the pure elegance of his features made her blush and turn away, showing a sign of likeness towards the Chairman. “I wanted more than anything to see the smooth skin of his face once more, with its broad brow, and the eyelids like sheaths of marble over his gentle eyes; but there was such a gulf in social standing between us. I did finally let my eyes flick upward, though I blushed and looked away so quickly that he may never have known I met his gaze…I felt that he could see into me as though I were a part of him. How I would have loved to be the instrument he played!” (130). In this moment, she began to develop feelings of love for him and continued to love him while growing up. “Every step I have taken in my life since I was a child in Gion, I have taken in the hope of bringing myself closer to you” (484-485).

Evolutionary Psychologists believe that love at first sight can definitely occur. Love at first sight mostly develops as a result of “…the sight of strong male facial features, ones that emphasize secondary sex characteristics, such as an angled chin, gray hair or a large forehead” (Diller 1). Eye contact also influences love at first sight, “…a direct look seems to send a strong signal to the opposite sex” (2). Upon their first encounter with one another, Chiyochan falls in love with the Chairman because of all of these reasons. The Chairman possesses strong secondary sex characteristics such as a broad face, gray hair and smooth skin. He also gives her direct eye contact, “He was looking at me as a musician might look at his instrument…” (Golden 130). In another article, Professor Ramirez states that “…things are happening very quickly. People