Character Analysis of Dobie Gillis in “Love Is a Fallacy”

“Love Is a Fallacy” is a story written by Max Shulman, an American writer popular in the third quarter of the 20th century. In this story the author created a successful character Dobie Gillis, which makes Shulman a distinguished writer of short stories. As the narrator of the story, Dobie firstly describes himself as an intelligent and logical person. However, the analysis of the whole story demonstrates his image more clearly and objectively. This essay focuses on the character analysis of Dobie through his language and behavior.

First, Dobie is a self-conceited person. At the beginning of the story, Dobie firstly describes himself. “Cool am I and logical. Keen, calculating, perspicacious, acute --- I am all of these. My brain is as powerful as a dynamo, precise as a chemist's scales, as penetrating as a scalpel. And - think of it! - I am only eighteen” (Zhang, P.67). Dobie uses many commentary words to praise himself as an intelligent and smart person. However, the images of the other two characters are described in a totally different direction. Dobie doesn’t use commentary words on his roommate Petey Burch and Polly Espy whom he likes. He describes Petey Burch as a “faddist and nothing upstairs” (Zhang, P.68) and described Polly Espy as “beautiful but not smarten enough” (Zhang, P.69) who needs Dobie’s guidance. However, afterwards the girl not smarten enough refutes his proposal using the fallacies he teaches her. And the roommate “nothing upstairs” (Zhang, P.68) wins the girl’s love by a raccoon coat that Dobie scorns while the smart Dobie gets nothing. Dobie claims himself as a logical and perspicacious person, but it proves to be that he has much prejudice on and despise of the other two characters. It’s evident that Dobie is a self-centered person exaggerating his own merits and the other’s demerits.

Second, Dobie is a ridiculous and self-contradictive person. Love is the most divine and beautiful affection on earth. However, Dobie takes it as a qualification for being a lawyer in the future. “The successful lawyers I have observed are, almost without exception, marry to beautiful, gracious, intelligent women. With one omission, Polly fits these specifications perfectly.” (Zhang, P.70). He emphasizes many times that his desire for Polly is not emotional in the nature. But after teaching fallacies to

Polly, he falls in love with this girl and determines to tell her. “It must be thought that I am without love with this girl. Quiet the contrary” (Zhang, P.82). Dobie has a ridiculous view of love and denies his own description of himself, which makes him a self-contradictive person.

Third, Dobie is an emotional person and not that reasonable and cool as he thinks. After spending one night teaching Polly fallacy, he wants to discard the intention to enlighten that stupid girl. Though he abandons that idea after reconsideration, he reveals his disgusted emotions in the conversations with Polly. Originally, Dobie “hides his exasperation” (Zhang, P.75) but gradually he loses control on his emotions. First, he feels desperate, and then his says sharply and sighs deeply. At last he is frowned by the teaching process. Actually the Polly’s progresses on the Fallacies prove that she is an intelligent girl. Therefore, it can be concluded from this process that Dobie is an emotional person and not that reasonable as he thinks.

In conclusion, Dobie Gillis in “Love Is a Fallacy” is a self-conceited, self-contradictive ridiculous and emotional person. Though Dobie praises himself with his characteristics of being logical and perspicacious at the beginning, the whole story give a real demonstration of his characteristics. Moreover he neglects an important fact that love is a kind of emotion which is not controlled by logic or reasons. That is also the reason he loses the girl’s love in the story.

Reference Books

[1]Wehmeier Sally OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNER’S English-Chinese

Dictionary the Sixth Edition, Beijing: The commercial Press and Oxford University Press, 1997.

[2] Shulman Max “Love Is a Fallacy” in Advanced English Book 2, ED Zhang Hanxi, Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1995.