The Sun Is Also a Star

Throughout the novel, Natasha’s passion for science and logical reasoning becomes a way for her and Daniel to fall in love. As Natasha is unwilling to accept abstract ideas of love without hard evidence, Daniel’s proposition that they participate in Arthur Aron’s psychological experiment creates a way for Natasha to fall in love with Daniel based on a familiar science. While Natasha believes that the sciences provide objective truths, the novel contends that science also supports the development of love, especially less-rational explanations for it. In the chapter, "Love: A Chemical History,” Natasha cites the three stages of love, according to scientists, which are lust, attraction, and attachment. By learning that love consists of these stages, she is able to interpret her past romantic betrayal as “just chemicals and coincidence” (105). However, despite her attempts to reason her way out of more inexplicable feelings of love, she also acknowledges that with Daniel, it “feel[s] like something more” (105).

As Natasha’s outlook on love becomes less defined by objective truth and more readily embraces the inexplicable, the scientific principles of the novel begin to exhibit more of Natasha’s emotional vulnerability. In “Eyes: An Evolutionary History,” the chapter contemplates the final part of Arthur Aron’s experiment where two strangers stare into each other’s eyes for four minutes. The chapter asks the question, “How did we go from eyes as a survival mechanism to the idea of love at first sight?” (280). While the eyes have a practical purpose, they also become a way of expressing intimacy and connection. Natasha expends much effort proving her proficiency in complicated scientific theories, though her love for Daniel proves that connection can be quite simple. The eyes can be said to sense light and predators, and they can also be used “[t]o see” and “[t]o be seen” (281). While this exchange may seem simple, it also expresses a more profound and vulnerable sense of love that cannot be reasoned through scientific jargon alone but with poetry as well.