Wow. These people really don't know what love is. "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" was a short story about two married couples, Mel, Terri and Nick and Laura, who really don't understand what love is really about. Let's start with Mel. Mel spent five years at seminary school where he learned about spiritual love. You would think that he would know everything there is about loving people, animals, etc., but he is still clueless. He is also divorced and has children, but all he does is give them a check every month. Mel's wife Terri was in a physically abusive marriage that didn't last too long because her ex husband Ed tried to kill her. The other married couple was acting as if they were still on their "honeymoon" stage. Nick is basically the narrator, and his wife Laura would just comment on the conversation every now and then. Terri was jealous of the other couple and is astonished that they are still happy because they have been married for so long (1.5 years).
I just think that it's funny how these particular couples can only talk about their feeling when they are drunk. Mel. who thinks he knows everything about love tries to say that Ed didn't even love Terri. I don't know what you call it, but i sure know you wouldn't call it love". Mel thinks that Ed never loved Terri because he was always abusing her. I believe that some people can love hard, and Ed's love for Terri is a good example. Ed had such a passion for Terri. Even though it wasn't a safe/healthy passion, she still felt loved by him and ultimately she misses that because Mel is not giving that passion that she so desires. In fact there is no passion in any of the couples. In the end the alcohol makes it worse. The couples were trying to cover up their imperfections with gin. When the alcohol was gone they all just sat there in the dark because they realized that their lives are dark and empty, and will always be dark and empty, and they will no longer have the alcohol to cover any of it up.
"Ed had such a passion for Terri. Even though it wasn't a safe/healthy passion, she still felt loved by him and ultimately she misses that because Mel is not igving that passion that she so desires."
ReplyDeleteWhoa...I feel like I had just dismissed Ed, but you went back and recognized this concealed gray area. It IS true that Ed could have loved her, indeed, and simply wasn't conveying it well (or some other reason). You did a good job of fitting Terri into a sentence. =~)
I completely agree with everything you said. You described the characters and situations perfectly. I agree that they did not know at all what love really was. When you said, "I just think that it's funny how these particular couples can only talk about their feeling when they are drunk," I thought the same thing. They were so open. Funny how they with all that honesty, when they were drunk, didnot turn into a big fight. Instead, they just sat together in the dark.
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