Love is a sophisticated idea that hardly defined clearly. Every person has his/her own definition of love. Some refer to it as a feeling while others identifies it as principle. There is no standard definition of love. It entails much. There exists true love and false love. This means that there are standard principles set that directs on how love should be. Many writers have written about love and what it entails. One of the writers, Carver has written about it. He brings out ideas of what we talk about when we talk about love. A brief analysis of Carver’s ideas is described in this work.
Carver gives information of what we talk about when we talk about love in clear and distinct way. In “What we talk about when we talk about love”, four characters sit in a kitchen. As they are drinking, they start to talk about love. Two couples give their definition of love based on their own experiences. Mel and Nick asserts about love and says that true love is nothing less than spiritual love (Carver 356) . That is his definition of love. For Terry, love simply involves a strong emotional attachment. Terry is mistreated by her former husband but she insists it is love. It is an abusive and a possessive love (Carver 356). Mel strongly refuses that that cannot be called loved. Love should not be one that ends up in violence and abuse as experienced by Terry.
The story being given by these four characters poses a difficulty in understanding what really love is. Carver uses them to show clearly how love is a complex thing. Their nature of love is quite different from what is expected. They are in a confinement which does not justify love (Carver 357). The story highlights majorly the bad experiences of love and neglects the good ones. Their tone is one depression, jealousy and full of grief.
Carver has used symbolism in this story to give emphasis of what love should be. Mel is said to be a cardiologist-heart doctor yet does not understand clearly about love. Love should be an affair of the heart (Carver 356). Mel is not able to figure out this aspect of love and still at the end, he is defeated to understand clearly the nature of love. This brings an aspect of irony in the idea of love as written by Carver. Terri is also used as symbolism to further show the difficulty in describing love. She is unable to describe the food I the restaurant. She only says that it looks good from outside.
Love is expressed as a physical act between two. This is evident between Nick and Laura. Nick does not give any opinion about love. On the other hand, Laura, her wife is silent about the matter. Though they are silent, they express love to each other through physical means(Carver 358).They demonstrate this physical domain of love by holding their hands and touching each other’s legs beneath the table (Carver 358).Love can be described as a physical activity between a couple.
There is no absolute definition and description love. Carver uses the story of the four characters to justify it. What remains clear is that love should be an affair of the heart. One is to express love to one another in a good way and not in oppressive ways. It should be one of happiness and rejoice but not one of misunderstandings and pain as depicted in the story by Carve.
Work Cited
Carver, Raymond “What WeTalk About When We Talk About Love.” Harvill Press.1996, Print
