Are Your Dreams Worth the Price?

I noticed a parallel while reading. Often times, people are faced with a choice that questions their values. The specific values I am referencing are personal relationships versus dreams and goals. It is sometimes very difficult to maintain and actively pursue both. Sometimes we must focus on our education or our careers, meanwhile our relationships take a hit. This is often discussed by the very successful, athletes, business people, performers, etc. There is a seemingly universal struggle between ambition and relationships.

Our main character has made his choice, “I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed” (Shelly 30). He has been consumed by the desire to accomplish his dreams, so much so, as to wish away the distraction of emotion.

Do you find yourself solidly on one side of battle, or are you in a constant struggle? How do you think this internal conflict, or lack thereof, will come into play as the story unfolds?