"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"

The short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love comes to a close with these words. “I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.” Although throughout the story, the two couples discuss love, it is not until the last few lines that meaning comes to the story. Mel and Terry are married to each other and they both have had previous spouses. Nick (the narrator) and Laura, however, have been married for only eight-teen months and are still accused of being in the honeymoon stage of their marriage. As they discuss this topic of love, they are drinking gin, and gradually getting drunk. They discuss their different opinions in what love is. Terry believes that her ex-husband loved her. Mel, however, disagrees that he was in love with Terry because he actually threatened to shoot them both! There discussion goes back and forth for quite a while as they continue to drink gin. It is obvious by how swiftly the conversation changes topics that they have drank a little too much gin. There are a few times that they even repeat what they are saying and no one even recognizes it in the story. While reading it I became confused because although the narrator is always present, it is not clear whether he is a boy or a girl. Because Mel and Terry are both names that could qualify for both genders, it caused me to question whom was married to who. As the short story comes to an end, the words that are said bring meaning and purpose to the story. Darkness and stillness come over the room because they realize that their lives are the way that they have always been and they still are yet to experience true love. Their lives will always be empty and dark, and their Gin was gone, therefore, they will not have anything to cover up the pain any longer.