When We Talk About Love Short Story

Carlos Velasquez
April 21, 2016
English 1302
David Brenner
Final Draft Raymond Carver was an American short story writer and poet. He was from Oregon and was brought up in the Pacific Northwest in a blue collar working family. Being inspired to write in high school he later perused his passion and ended up becoming a well-known and established writer. He has written many well-known pieces but one that is awfully interesting is a short story called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. This story discusses some of the perspectives of love and showcases them in an interesting way. The definition of love is difficult to be defined in words but it is something that is be felt more than anything. The narrator, who is Raymond, introduces a character who goes by the name Mel McGinnis, who is stated to be his friend. Mel is a cardiologists and he makes sure to mention this is order to say that the fact he is a cardiologists “sometimes gives him the right” (411). It is implied that since Mel has this kind of job that he knows what he is saying. Then their wives are introduced who are Laura and Terri. As the story progresses the

As these four friends retell their past experiences on love they realize that love is more complex. Love can not be defined and that is also stated in the article “Love as Desire, Conflict and Oedipal Development” by Georgiana Dobrescu which says “Love is a rich and complex feeling which cannot be easily defined or researched. And this happens because it is not a feeling that has a clear shape in our mind: it is not only longing for another person, it is not only sexual desire, it is not only attachment. It can also be idealization, thrill, excitement, intimacy and quiet states too, commitment and generosity; but it can also be control and power.” (163). Love is more complex than we think but it is something to be felt more than