Monty never intended to hurt anyone, but not knowing who or what he wants is tearing his relationships apart. The fact that he spent his childhood being told by his father that loving a woman is something to be done moderately and at the same time, having his beautiful mom whispering the secrets of the stars in his ear, telling him that love is the most wonderful gift you can ever give someone doesn't help. Being pulled in two different directions ultimately made him afraid of love and what it can do to people and him. He never understood how much damage his parents actually did to him until now, while he's trapped in love and lust with four different women, all of whom carry some part of him with them.Affect/Effect is a story that explores the complexity of the female/male relationship simply through the everyday lives of a select few of them. Men and women somehow manage to see the same love but contrary to each other. With Monty, as with a majority of men, the lust lingers within love and he struggles to decipher each relationship to see which he is in--love or lust? While the women, Monty's love interests--Angel, Ice and Mildred continue to love Monty for who he is, seeing the physical aspect as just a continuation of the love shared between them. And Daria, well, Daria just wants someone to take care of her, always using Monty's love and lust for her against him and for her advantage. Even the gentle connection of friendship holds matters of the heart. Mildred is proving that to Monty by having him dangling from her finger for loving him as her weakness first, still remaining his strength. Love makes it's way into Monty's friendships without him being able to stop it, starting with Mildred and ending with Angel and Ice who accept each other like family without ever really understanding or even truly knowing who the other one is and now they've fallen in love with the same man--Ice falling for him behind Angel's back--only brings the situation to light, proving just how complicated love is when added to a friendship. Monty manages to put two full, committed friendships in danger simply by allowing his love to ease into them.
The problem with human relationship, supported by Monty's own reality, is that our flaws are inevitable and our quests for perfection just push us farther away from perfection, itself. As Monty tries harder and harder to change for the sake of not breaking anyone's heart, he causes more pain than he ever imagined he could be capable of. Still, it allows him to open his eyes to his own fears of loving again after the devastating disaster that was Daria, the hidden, but mutual feelings with his best friend, Mildred and also allows Angel and Ice to see the very extreme problems threatening to destroy their relationship.
Humans affect each other as love affects our relationships, but the effects of it are just what we make them. Throughout the story of Affect/Effect, these characters cause drastic changes in their own lives and the lives of each other, as we do to one another everyday. Affect/Effect is very much a story of love and life.
