Love

The Taoist Vanitas who is first to read The Story of the Stone identifies the main theme of this story as love. He is so strongly affected by the love story that he changes his name to Brother Amor. Of course the main love story of this novel is the ill-fated love of Dai-yu for Bao-yu. She spends her life repaying Bao-yu for his gift of life through her tears. Although the two have a special connection and share an unconscious bond because of their previous life together in the Land of Illusion, the two will not be together. In her play that foretells the futures of the members of the Jia family, the fairy Disenchantment hints that Bao-yu will marry Bao-chai instead of Dai-yu.

In addition to the love story between Bao-yu and Dai-yu, there are many other stories of love included in this novel. One of...