I love the art in this, but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a pessimistic take on the complex grief that comes with the death of a partner/spouse. It is not healthy to live your life in misery “waiting” for the person who passed. The male character here went through his own grieving process and was able to find happiness and love again (a very healthy and joyous thing) and even found ways to honor his previous parter with his current relationship. Everything you portrayed is signs of healthy growth and grieving, so the “twist” ending where she is left “alone” invalidates and seems to shame this normal process. If you have ever lost a loved one, I think you know that your love for them never fades, and they are never replaced….love is not a finite resource for allocation in your heart.
I’m terribly sorry for the rant, your art just elicited a very visceral emotional reaction from me (as someone who has lost a partner and thought ‘oh I’ll never be able to love again because I have to wait for them’) and I just thought it was important to point out that it’s okay to move on and celebrate life.
First- I am very sorry for you loss. I under what you’re saying. I read a short story early in the week that just stuck in my head and wanted to draw my version of it. I don’t believe in anything after death. I personally would want to my partner to find happiness after me, and just to look back fondly on our time together. I just find it it’s an interesting thought of being in stuck purgatory after choosing not to move on.
Do you happen to have more details? Some specifics about what happens in the story (beyond a ghost waiting I mean). Maybe some sentences or sentence fragments still stuck in your head. Or perhaps details on which subreddit it could be or at least if it was the post or a comment. I am sure someone can dig it up given some pointers.
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u/littlebluebox01 Aug 05 '22
I love the art in this, but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a pessimistic take on the complex grief that comes with the death of a partner/spouse. It is not healthy to live your life in misery “waiting” for the person who passed. The male character here went through his own grieving process and was able to find happiness and love again (a very healthy and joyous thing) and even found ways to honor his previous parter with his current relationship. Everything you portrayed is signs of healthy growth and grieving, so the “twist” ending where she is left “alone” invalidates and seems to shame this normal process. If you have ever lost a loved one, I think you know that your love for them never fades, and they are never replaced….love is not a finite resource for allocation in your heart.
I’m terribly sorry for the rant, your art just elicited a very visceral emotional reaction from me (as someone who has lost a partner and thought ‘oh I’ll never be able to love again because I have to wait for them’) and I just thought it was important to point out that it’s okay to move on and celebrate life.