Don't you think that something good is also attractive?''Yes, I think so.''So if Love is devoid of attractive qualities, and if good things are attractive, then Love is also devoid of good qualities.' " (Plato 40-41)Carver and Plato can both agree that love is a powerful thing. Carver, however, digs deep into how physical, secular, and violent the nature of love can be, as shown through Mel stories. Love reaches its ugliest and most explicit climax when Mel talks about the suicide of Ed's deceased and mentally unstable ex-husband, Terri. "'He shot himself in the mouth in his room he told the manager...The man lived three days. His head swelled twice as big as a normal head. I had never seen anything like it, and I hope to never see it again... I didn't think so she should have seen it.'” (Carver 142) It is important to note that Mel sees trauma often, as he is a surgeon, and he also found Ed's suicide too much to bear. Carver uses the stories of lovers in gruesome situations to show the The idea that love does nothing but create misery for lovers.