What is love? Does anyone really know the meaning of the word? Does it mean different things to different people? These are the questions Carver's four characters ponder over free-flowing gin and deep conversations in the short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." Carver's characters discuss and debate the meaning of love throughout the story. I'm going to explain how different characters feel about love. The author shows that there are different types of love and different levels of each type. It also proves that one person's emotions towards another can change from love to hate and then back to love. The characters search for the true meaning of love throughout the story, and in the end neither understands it. The story begins with the four friends sitting at a table having a few drinks before dinner. Mel McGinnis, his wife Terri, his best friend Nick, who is also the narrator of the story, and Nick's wife Laura are the four characters. Although Nick narrates the story, Mel, who is a cardiologist, seems to be the main character. The gin flows freely at the table and as Mel begins to smell his drink, he also begins to think about his feelings of love and hate. Terri and Mel have been married for four years and he begins to discuss Terri's previous relationship. Before marrying Mel, Terri lived with a man named Ed. Ed is a vital part of this story, even though he died at the time. Ed was violent and at one point tried to kill Terri. Terri talks about an experience in which Ed says while he's beating her, "I love you, I love you, bitch" (Carver 726). Mel thinks that Ed could never have loved Terri if he had been so violent and tried to kill her. He responds to Terri's thoughts about loving Ed by saying, "God, don't be an idiot... middle of paper...... and kill yourself, Terri felt she had need to be there for him in the hospital. She loved him and cared enough to sit by his side as he died. So what is the true meaning of love? I explained how Carver used his characters to show the different ways people perceive love. He showed that there are different types of love and different levels of each type. It also shows two examples of how the feelings one person has for another, whether love or hate, can go from one extreme to the other. A person can go from loving someone to hating that person and vice versa. The characters in the story ponder one of life's greatest mysteries, the true meaning of love. Although they never really understood the true meaning, I have the impression that after the night spent drinking gin at that table in Albuquerque, each of them understands love and all its aspects a little better. oddities..