In Raymond Carver's, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," Mel offers the old couple that is injured in the car accident as an example of true love. Mel says, '"they had these incredible reserves those two ... they both kept plugging away at it for two weeks hitting it better and better on all the scopes'" (p. 413). This statement makes me think the two are struggling to get better for each other. In the end though, one can see that Mel's example really isn't as good as he thought.
             You hear about it from time to time that a couple that is truly in love will do whatever it takes just to get back in the arms of their partner. This idea was brought up by Mel's quote, '"the husband was very depressed for the longest while ... after he found out his wife was going to pull through he was still very depressed ... he'd say it wasn't the accident exactly but it was because he couldn't see her through his eye holes'" (p. 415). Mel's example here is that the man was very upset because he could not take one glimpse of the woman he loved. All he wanted to do was look at her, and the fact that he could not set him into a deep depression.
             We as readers can infer that true love isn't the kind where the physical aspects are the only ones missed. This inference is aided when Mel says '"you know that kind of love that I am talking about now, physical love that impulse that drives you to someone special ... and, well, call it sentimental the day to day caring about the person"' (p. 412). Mel believes the combination of these two very different kinds of love is what makes for true love. He believes the most important part is that of the sentimental part with some physical added. We acquire this knowledge from the narrator, "Mel thought real love was nothing less than spiritual love" (p. 408).
             ...