The modern love ideal basically encompasses the concept of a voluntary union. It is a union between two people in which they share tenderness and protect each other from the harsh realities of the outside world. The modern love ideal is also about two people being in love and wanting to share their lives together. This concept of modern love involves demonstrations of kindness, tenderness and affection. Such a love ideal also encompasses marriage and its vows. Among these, the most significant are promising to ôcherishö the other individual through good and bad and remaining bound by bond until ôdeath do them partö. In Kate ChopinÆs The Story of an Hour and Raymond CarverÆs Popular Mechanics, we get a quite different view of modern love than this traditional view of the concept promises.
In CarverÆs Popular Mechanics, we are treated to a couple with one child in the midst of a breakup. The man is packing a suitcase and the story opens with his wife screaming at him in a manner not encompassed by the ideal of love, ôIÆm glad youÆre leaving! IÆm glad youÆre leaving! She said. Do you hear? ... Son of a bitch! IÆm so glad youÆre leaving!ö (Carver 1). There is no sensitivity, no tenderness, and no compassion exhibited between the couple throughout the short story. Instead their relationship seems to be completely devoid of love.
The couple demonstrates no elements of the concept of the modern love ideal. They are rude to one another. They show no respect for one another. They yell and scream mean things at each other, including profanities. They do not communicate well and are overly emotional when trying to resolve a conflict between them. They also appear to have given up on their marriage vows. They certainly show no signs of demonstrating that they cherish each other in the story, and obviously they will part before death parts them.
The couple also shows little respect for their child. The w...