At the beginning of the story, the narrator describes: “the afternoon sunlight was like a presence in the room” (Carver 5 ). Their optimism about their conception of love turns into pessimism. By the end of the story, the narrator notes, “the blue layer of the sky had given way and was becoming dark like the rest. But the stars had appeared. I recognized Venus and, further away and to the side, less bright but unmistakably there on the horizon, Mars” (Carver