I think that both stories for today do follow a romantic narrative, though not necessarily the one where the woman falls in love with the prince and lives happily ever after. In Seventeen Syllables Rosie is observing her parent's relationship and they are not connecting because the father feels that the mother is in essence cheating on him when she spends all her time and energy on the poetry. Rosie experiences her own taste of the romantic narrative when she is kissed by a boy and completely taken by surprise. She has to take her time to think about the implications of the kiss and how she feels about the boy, Jesus. The readers get a glimpse that she may like him, after running away, when she is peeking out of the privy to see if he is looking for her near the house. In a sense, Rosie may be playing 'hard to get' which is a variation of an american romantic narrative. The other romance in the story is that of her mother when she was young. The mother seemed to have quite a romance when she was in Japan, but due to the status of the boy and the traditions of the town, she was unable to have a relationship. This echos many narratives we have already looked at, but instead of ending with happiness, her mother must choose between a new life in America or ending her life. It is sad that this is the basis of her marriage.

The second story, Men in Your Life shows many relationships through the eyes of two women gossiping. The first discussion is about how women shape thier sons, this sets the story up for the three men we hear described. The first is Clarance, and he is married and treats his wife very poorly, though the narrator does not mention it, it is obviously that he is emotionally and probably physically abusive. The escaping of women from abusive relationships is often part of the romantic narrative when they are able to move on and find someone else. The second man in the story is Wallace, the bad date. This is another fairly common scene in films and stories of the romantic narrative 'gone wrong'. Instead of the date sweeping this girl off her feet, he does the opposite and she decides very quickly that it will not work out. Finally she mentions Eddy and the things they do together and his faults but also the attributes she really enjoys about him and the reader comes to find that she likes him more than she knows. This is a common narrative becasue the relationship is humble and not deliberately romantic yet with the closeness between the couple, we realize they care a lot about eachother,

I think by looking at the romance in these texts we are able to tell a little more about the lives of the characters because we already know how these narratives go, since we see them all the time in our culture. Seventeen syllables looks at romantic love as something that is negative and unattainable. Men in your Life also does not put an emphasis on romanitc love because the none of the characters in the story are romantically involved, however, it gives the hope that the narrator's realtionship with Eddy will turn into something romantic and successful.