# What Love and Romantic Confusion means in The Plastic Age

> Hugh's relationships with Helen, Janet, and especially Cynthia illustrate the difficulty of distinguishing genuine love from infatuation, sexual attraction, and societal expectation.

## Explanation

Hugh's relationships with Helen, Janet, and especially Cynthia illustrate the difficulty of distinguishing genuine love from infatuation, sexual attraction, and societal expectation.

Hugh's intense but fleeting feelings for Helen; his inability to sustain the romantic intoxication.

Hugh's encounter with the girl in the corn-colored frock and his subsequent romantic reverie, comparing her to Helen, illustrates his emotional confusion and burgeoning romantic feelings.

Hugh's summer romance with Janet Harton reveals his confusion between idealized love and physical desire, as he finds her childlike affection unsatisfying.

Hugh's infatuation with Cynthia Day dominates his thoughts, leading him to neglect college life and deepening his emotional entanglement.

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