When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver Analysis

Love can be seen everywhere in the world. It can be seen in the movies we watch, our feelings, and the actions we take. The topic of love is especially common in literature. It appears in stories both tragic and heartwarming. William Shakespeare’s “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” discusses his opinion on love. He believes that love is something that does not change. Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” is about two couples in very different love situations sharing their thoughts about love while drinking gin. Shakespeare and Carver use punctuation, metaphors, and character stories to reflect the idea that love is strong and will always be there. Shakespeare’s careful use of punctuation and literary devices

Mel believes that Ed did not love her, but Terri insists that he did. After Terri left Ed, “he drank rat poison,” and he later “shot himself in the mouth” (Carver 2). These two suicide attempts can be related to the fact that Ed loved her so much that he would rather be dead than live without her. The fact that he shot himself after his first suicide attempt failed shows how his feelings for Terri never changed. If love was something that changed, it would have been possible for Ed to get better after he drank rat poison and move on from Terri. The argument that love is constant applies the other way as well, with Terri still having feelings for Ed. Despite the relationship being long over and Terri being in a new relationship, she says things like “‘Poor Ed’”, and “‘I still feel sorry for him’” (Carver 2). This shows that Terri still feels for Ed. Although the magnitude of love may not be the same, Carver makes it clear that it is still there. It supports the idea that love is something that does not change because, despite the horrible things Ed did to Terri, she still has some feelings for him. Nick and Laura, on the other hand, form a couple that can be viewed as very idealistic. When they talked about their thoughts on love, they talked as if they were perfect for each other. Nick topped it off when he “took Laura's hand and raised it to [his] lips. [He] made a big production out of kissing her hand,” (Carver 4). This action shows how

The best example of this is in Carver’s story when Marjorie is brought up. Marjorie is Mel’s former wife, who is housing the kids that she and Mel had. When Terri brought her up, Mel showed his substantial hatred towards her, saying “‘I'm praying she'll get herself stung to death by a swarm of fucking bees’” (Carver 9). To most, this quote would make it clear that Marjorie is someone that Mel once loved, but now despises. This is driven by the fact that Mel said earlier in the story that “‘there was a time when I thought I loved my first wife more than life itself. But now I hate her guts’” (Carver 5). As a result, it completely dismantles Carver’s idea that love will always be there. However, it can be argued that love is still there, and it is driven by their children. In this part of the story, Mel states multiple times that he wants to call the children that he and Marjorie had. He even says “‘I don't want to talk to Marjorie…but I want to talk to my kids’” (Carver 9). It shows that Mel still loves his kids, as he clearly wanted to talk to them. As a result, love is still there because Mel loves the kids that were a product of his love for Marjorie. It may not be the same kind of love, but Mel’s kids show that the love is certainly still