English Paper 3 
Alec Tyler
Professor Benjamin Reed
Engl 1320
16 October 2014 Love, itself, is a complex idea to comprehend and understand. People in today’s society might believe they know the ins and outs of love but realistically they most likely do not. In Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, Carver communicates to the reader what each character’s thoughts toward love are sub-textually through Terri’s complicated relationship with her ex husband, Nick’s few comments relating to the conversation, and Mel’s backwards idea that he is a “knight of love”, despite what they communicate literally. Even though the characters in the story claim they have a clear grasp on what love is, as each character attempts to explain to each other what they believe it is, Carver displays that the characters really do not have as clear of a grasp as they thought they did. Terri believes she knows what love is but after discussing it with the group, it is clear to the reader that she does not. In the text, Terri explains her story with her ex husband, Ed. She talks about how she was terribly abused by him and as a result how she divorced him. After she divorced him, the author has Terri tell the group about how Ed attempted to commit suicide by swallowing rat poison and when that failed he shot himself in the mouth. She claims that she believes he did this because Ed had a clear understanding of love and truly loved her, even though her current husband, Mel, abruptly disagrees. A lot of Terri’s dialogue in the story is her defending Ed to Mel. For example, she tells him “He did love me though, Mel. Grant me that” (Carver 723). Throughout the rest of her defending, the reader can begin to put together that Terri begins to question herself by the end of the story. Literally, the author has Terri act like she fully knows that what her ex-husband did was truly love, but sub-textually the author makes it easy for the author to understand that Terri does not even believe in
Professor Benjamin Reed
Engl 1320
16 October 2014 Love, itself, is a complex idea to comprehend and understand. People in today’s society might believe they know the ins and outs of love but realistically they most likely do not. In Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, Carver communicates to the reader what each character’s thoughts toward love are sub-textually through Terri’s complicated relationship with her ex husband, Nick’s few comments relating to the conversation, and Mel’s backwards idea that he is a “knight of love”, despite what they communicate literally. Even though the characters in the story claim they have a clear grasp on what love is, as each character attempts to explain to each other what they believe it is, Carver displays that the characters really do not have as clear of a grasp as they thought they did. Terri believes she knows what love is but after discussing it with the group, it is clear to the reader that she does not. In the text, Terri explains her story with her ex husband, Ed. She talks about how she was terribly abused by him and as a result how she divorced him. After she divorced him, the author has Terri tell the group about how Ed attempted to commit suicide by swallowing rat poison and when that failed he shot himself in the mouth. She claims that she believes he did this because Ed had a clear understanding of love and truly loved her, even though her current husband, Mel, abruptly disagrees. A lot of Terri’s dialogue in the story is her defending Ed to Mel. For example, she tells him “He did love me though, Mel. Grant me that” (Carver 723). Throughout the rest of her defending, the reader can begin to put together that Terri begins to question herself by the end of the story. Literally, the author has Terri act like she fully knows that what her ex-husband did was truly love, but sub-textually the author makes it easy for the author to understand that Terri does not even believe in