Love Actually

"Laura is a legal secretary. We'd met in a professional capacity. Before we knew it, it was a courtship. She's thirty-five, three years younger than I am. In addition to being in love, we like each other and enjoy one another's company. She's easy to be with." (Carver 131)

Mel, Terri, Nick, and Laura present the reader with a discourse on the ambiguity and depth of true love and resulting consequences of such. It is interesting to note the extreme contrast in romantic beginnings each couple comes from, giving way to the many roles love can take in one's life. The whole story circles around the true purpose of love and its concrete definition in a real-world sense, but no single character can give a full filling answer. The whole story feels me with an uneasy feeling because no single conclusion is brought forth other than the realization that love is significantly more complicated than thought. Nick finds love to be an entity separate from emotional and physical attraction, implying love should be easy and smooth-sailing. Then again, if relationships and love were so easy to abide to, wouldn't everyone be in a relationship? His reasoning for their marriage and love is a list of simplistic qualities alienated from love as a whole. Love goes hand in hand with good company and attraction. Without either, love cannot survive in a relationship, as neither love nor relationships last easily. Mel's description of the elderly couple's accident seems to be the only accurate description of love, while Terri's prior relationship can so easily be deemed domestic violence. Then again, her ex had such devotion to his love for her, he wouldn't live without it…literally. Each character provides insight to the possible depths love dives into, giving way to the ultimate message that love has no true bounds or means. The whole framework behind love is so ambiguous, it falls to the perception of each person differently, giving way to no real limitation or definition on love. At the end of the day, love is in the eye of the beholder. 

Is the idea of love true to its form or is it commercialized and molded to what society finds true love to be, restricted to societal pressures and influence? Why so?