In the short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,"Raymond Carver illustrates two couples interactions and their discussion about love. Terri describes her past relationship with an abusive partner as being truly loving. Her current partner, Mel, cannot understand Terri's reasoning behind her belief that her ex-partner, Ed, truly loved her.
"He kept saying,"I love you, I love you, you bitch." He went on dragging me around the living room. My head knocking on things"(128).
As a reader, you automatically side with Mel and cannot see how this is a display of love, but Terri is convinced saying "But he loved me. In his own way maybe, but he loved me" (129). This relationship and the reactions of the other characters symbolize the convoluted and twisted nature love can take. No character can give an assured description of what they think love is, besides Terri and her obvious dark answer. Terri's description of her situation represents the empty dialogue that resonates between the characters throughout the story that somehow brings them together while also forcing them apart.
The characters toast to "to true love," and Mel attempts to describe "what real love is,"but I'm not convinced any character in the story has truly experienced or can explain what love is (132). Over the course of the story, dialogue bounces between the characters, dancing around the fact that none of them know or can articulate what love is.
Is love something that can be effectively described or merely just felt? What character gives the best explanation or display of love in the story?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.