Love cannot be defined in a sentence or even a paragraph. Every human being has their own definition of love because people usually define love based on their culture, background, social classes, education and their society. In this essay, the main point will be the different types of love that Carver illustrates in his story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." There are some points in Carver's story that I can connect to my own personal experience. There are some characteristics and symbols in the story that are really important to understand in order to define what a true love is and find the intention expelled from the story. These features include the relationship between Mel, Terri, and Ed and Terri. Additionally, symbols such as “sunlight” and “dark room,” “cardiologist,” and “silence” at the end of the story may have a specific intention eliminated from the field. history. From his career as a cardiologist and his definition of love at the beginning of the story, Mel appears to be a very intelligent and educated person. However, as the story progresses, Mel, Terri, Nick and Laura get more and more drunk. The more drunk they got, the more confused they seemed about what true love was. When Mel and his friend were drunk, Mel began to give examples of an old couple to support his definition of love, but eventually he seemed confused, and couldn't clearly define what love was because he was drunk. Also, Mel was talking about the old couple and how they almost died in a car accident, and then ended up falling into depression. Mel talked about his first wife and mentioned, “If I'm not praying for her to remarry, I'm praying for her to get stung to death by a swarm of fucking bees” (Carver 683). I think that when Mel......middle of paper......y is the more Mel, Terri, Laura and Nick get drunk, the more they talk about love, the more they show their true characteristics, and the more all the characteristics they get confused in defining what love is. Furthermore, Raymond Carver wants to tell his readers that love can have different meanings for different people, and that love is based on their experience of love and how love treats them as people. Carver also intended to show how alcohol played an important role in defining what love is and how someone can forget their love when that person is drunk. Carver intended to show his reader the silence he and his friend got when the alcohol or gin ran out. Some people fall in love with alcohol and choose to drink alcohol rather than the people they love. Love can be good and lead to success, but it can also be dangerous and end in suicide.