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.