When We Talk About Love By Raymond Carver

What is Love, Baby do Hurt Me? Love is something nearly every living person is familiar with on Earth. The origins of love are and still remain debatable. However, physical or thought, the origin of love is undoubtedly a phenomena that people will still seek to find answers to. The story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, written by Raymond Carver, is a short story of two couples (Mel and Terri, and Nick and Laura) that converse their experiences and cognitions about love, and whether it can be concretely recognized as “real love”. The short story uses multiple nuances and blatant dialogue to try to convey what love means to them and how it can be interpreted by different people. Raymond Carver, as done previously in his essay “My

The two couples speak about love, but in instances throughout the short story use metaphors or subtle hints at the quality or their own love. The two sides of physical and spiritual love are separated by the characters in the short story. However, the two explanations of “real love” should not be seen as separate, for they both play some role in creating the essence of “real love” which is obviously in question in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” Physical love can be recognized as either bitter or sweet. In line with the short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, Terri, the female character of the older couple, shares the story of her abusive ex-husband, Ed, and how he claimed he loved her, but the way he portrayed it was through physical acts of abuse (Carver 170). In addition, Terri recalls a scene with Ed, saying, “He beat me up one night. He dragged me around the living room by my ankles. He kept saying, ‘I love you, I love, you, you bitch.’ He went on dragging me around the living room” (Carver 170). The act of love that Ed did, provides clears signs that the love both Terri and Ed had was

As the story progresses the true nature of love between the couples starts to become questionable. The darker change into questionable love is supported by a change in scenery and the continuous intoxication of the couples. As Mel goes slightly under the influence of the gin he begins to develop an aggressive attitude towards Terri that comes out in blatant dialogue and nuanced of phrases. As the story begins, the author sets the stage in a brightly lit room, describing the scene, “Sunlight filled the kitchen from the big window behind the sink” (Carver 170). The sunlight signifies the seemingly happy mood the couples are in as they still continue to show mutual affection towards one another. At one point the author hints at a spiritual environment, saying, “The afternoon sun was like an appearance in this room, the spacious light of ease and generosity. We could have been anywhere, somewhere enchanted” (Carver 176). The way the stage is described can be seen as a metaphor for the joyous mood the couples are in when they toast to “true