The light slowly fades from the room the longer the friends discuss love. At the beginning of the story, Carver writes, “Sunlight filled the kitchen” (Carver 656). This probably wasn't the beginning of the conversation, but Carver claims it was when they first broached the topic of love. Shortly afterward he says, “The sunlight inside the room was different now… thinner” (Carver 664). This quote connects sunlight to the character's understanding and the basis of what love is. Instead of saying that the sun was weaker or that there simply wasn't as much sunlight in the room, Carver chose the more subtle word. It's telling that as the conversation goes on the friends are starting to realize that the foundation on which their understanding of love rests is thinning. Finally, Carver literally shows that the four friends are in the dark “…even when the room has gone dark” (Carver 665) as they are all in the dark about love. Carver's characters went from believing they understood and had a solid grasp of what love is, "The sunlight filled the kitchen" (Carver 656) to realizing they didn't even have a way to begin to understand what love is, "... even when the room went dark" (Carver