What an ironic time to talk about love. Sorry if I sound so pessimistic. I’m not bitter or anything. The concept of soul mates and finding the one person of your life is the theory behind Portrait of Jennie, and we can see Eben’s behavior as he finds himself deeper and deeper in love with Jennie. The movie portrays Jennie as more of a figment of his imagination. I even like what Liz suggested, that Jennie “hurrying up” is really her painting drying. However the book portrays her as real, that they are two soul mates that just weren’t together at the right time. Eben becomes obsessed with her, and she with him, and her death at the end shows that maybe they weren’t really meant to be together. So was their pursuit of each other doomed? Would life had been better for Eben if he never met her and had an “average” life that we were talking about in class? Who knows.