Essay About When We Talk About Love 'And The Lottery'

Throughout the stories “Janus”, “A good story” “What we Talk About When We Talk About Love” and “The Lottery”, the authors use characters and symbolic objects to help us better understand the role diversity and oppression play on individuals and groups. Literary critic Christopher Decker describes one 's connection to their surroundings saying, “The notion of home as an enclosed and protective space together with the relationship between private and public, self and community, is constantly challenged.” (Decker). When decker uses the words “public” and “community” he is referring to those who have conflicting views with with the protagonist in each of the short stories. This concept is illustrated by Uncle Moses throughout “A Good Story”, …show more content…
Dr.Christof Decker explains Teris conflicting views of love within the story by writing, “Carver’s protagonists usually come to realize that the evil they are trying to hide from resurfaces in the midst of their most intimate relationships.” When decker says evil, he is referring to Edd, specifically Edd’s connection to Teri. Terri has a skewed perception of love from the other characters. She tries to explain how her ex-husband Ed, who abused her and tried to kill her, truly loved her. Terri believes this because Ed tried to kill himself when she left him. It is important that Teris view is different because it is the one that represents what Carver is trying to say about love. We can better understand the violence associated with love in the story, based on Teri 's words because her opinion contradicts the others who don 't believe that they have experienced true love. Mel, believes that love is the physical feeling you get when you like something, however Mel explains how she hasn 't experienced true love. This contrast lets us see how two diverse conflicting views complement each other. These themes of diversiy are also present in the test