When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver Analysis

Relationships and Love

The short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” by Raymond Carver. The story starts off with four characters Mel, Terri, Laura and Nick. However, Mel and Terri, the older couple are the only ones who really discuss the topic of love. There is a lot of symbolism in the story, like the fact that Mel is a cardiologist (heart doctor). This is significant as it brings a sense of irony into the story, since love would commonly be referred to as an affair of the heart. The story has a familiarity to it, for at least anyone who has brought a new significant other over to a friend’s house for a double date; the older couple usually controls the flow of the conversation and at some point always hazes the new couple a little. The short story with the use of symbolism, gives us a snap shot into today’s society thought on love,

The symbolism starts with the description of the brightness of the afternoon and this imagery highlights the characters into what seems to having higher understanding on the topic of love. However by the end of the story, the day has turn into night and darkness, the reader can almost see the characters thoughts of being clueless; start to seep in, literally and figuratively. The biggest example of this comes from character Mel, who does most of the talking throughout the story, ready to enlighten the rest of the characters in the story. However, despite his multiple attempts at closing in on what love is, he just talks himself into a circle and never really defining what love is. Though it may also be an argued that the loss of clarity