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Camille Kate S. Palomares

Professor Jillian Tan

Literature 13

11 January 2015

Of Three-way Spoons and Marriages

Amy Bloom’s story entitled “Love is Not a Pie” is written in the first-person point of

view from the perspective of Ellen Spencer who narrates the story. The author’s use of this

tool is effective throughout the story as we see how she uses this perspective to make the

readers on track with the development of Ellen’s character and internal conflict. At the start

of the story, the author reveals the root of all conflicts - that Ellen is contemplating whether

or not she should cancel her wedlock with John while a eulogy is currently spoken at her

mother’s funeral. She thinks that “John Wescott did not seem like a good person to marry”

(Bloom 1), especially when the minster speaks of her mother as a “rare spirit, fill of the kind

of bravery and joy which inspires others,” (1).

Definitely, this conflict comes from her experience in which she questions her

mother’s beliefs on how love really works. It was on her 11th year; on the summer she spent

in the family cabin in Maine together with her parents, with her younger sister Lizzie, and

Mr. DeCuervo with his daughter Gisela. Ellen admits that they like the DeCuervos in general

with the exception of the mother, explaining that they like Gisela “because she didn’t squeal

on us, on me in particular,” (3) as well as Mr. DeCuervo because "he always complimented

us, never made stupid jokes at our expense, and brought us unusual, perfect little presents”

(3).

However, the plot thickens on the duration of their summer in the cabin. The story

shows how she starts to get perplexed with her mother’s real relationship with Bolivar, Mr.

DeCuervo’s real name. This is first seen when her mother and the three kids danced together
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as the two daddies watched them. Although her mother always asks her father for a dance

first, there is a difference in the mood throughout when she dances with Bolivar next “as

though they’d been waiting all their lives for each song,” (7). Ellen even commented that her

father “danced the way he was, warm, noisy, teasing, a little overpowering; but Mr.

DeCuervo, who was quiet and thoughtful and serious, became a different man when he

danced with (my) mother. His dancing was light and happy and soulful, edging up on (my)

mother, turning her, matching her every step” (7).

Her confusion even intensifies on that one midnight she sees her mother and Bolivar

hugging each other while she is about to get some water. It is said that she is greatly

perplexed by this: “if you hugged someone like you’d never let them go, surely you were

supposed to be kissing, too...my mother’s hands were under Mr. DeCuervo’s white t-shirt”

(8). Even if she tries to think the next morning that he is not the same man she saw giving her

mother a bizarre hug last night, it does not disappear as she sees the three adults sleeping in

one bedroom, with her “mother spooned up against (my) father’s back…and Mr. DeCuervo

spooned up against her, his arm over the covers, his other hand resting on top of her head”

(15). The young Ellen definitely finds this unusual – seeing three adults spooned up against

each other; yet, she tries to reason out that maybe Mr. DeCuervo’s bed collapsed just like

how their bed did on the last summer.

Nevertheless, these circumstances continue to vex Ellen until she learns it from Lizzie

that she and her mother have bluntly discussed about this relationship the three adults shared.

From Ellen and the kids’ perspective, the three adults were their parents, their guardian that

keeps on looking out for them. But between the three, this relationship transcends being

guardians and best friends alone. As Lizzie tells her, which confirms Ellen’s suspicions at the

same time, her mother had an affair with Bolivar despite getting married to her father.
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On a phone call with Lizzie, her mother said, “…nobody loves me more than

Bolivar…” (17). She explains that she first met Bolivar when he replanted the apple trees that

have just bloomed, and the first time he and her husband met they drank and watched soccer

together. Feeling that sense of tranquility makes her know that she is “living in a state of

grace” (18) but it leaves Lizzie confounded as to how her mother “…could do it, love them

both, and how they could stand it” (19) as if it was normal.

At this point, her mother tells Lizzie: “…love is not a pie, honey. I love

you…differently because you are different people...but not all the same. And so who I am

with each of you is different, unique to us. I don't choose between you" (19). This, in

accordance with her mother’s words, is how she manages maintaining a kind of ‘ménage à

trois' relationship at the same time keeping the family together. From the story, one can infer

that when the mother said that love is not like a pie, she meant that it is not like a pie that can

be sliced and distributed among the people to be eaten; that love is something that is given

fully and differently to every beloved person. It is something that cannot be shared in which

one gets lesser or more than the other; instead, it is something manifested uniquely to one yet

at the same time it is exhibited differently to another.

Towards the end of the story, the author brings the readers back to the start where it is

stated that Ellen thinks that her “…mother would not have wanted me to spend my life with

this man…” (1). After hearing this story about their mother from Lizzie, the author brings

back Ellen’s unresolved conflict once more. Should she tell John about her mother’s affair?

What would John think about it?

Nevertheless, Ellen still decides to call John, from whom she receives a really warm

and sweet greeting from him. Of course, she thinks that it is completely normal that he will

be considerate of her given the circumstances that she is in. Yet it can be seen that Ellen

realizes that being normal is not just right for her because she “didn’t come from a normal
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family…wasn’t ready to get normal;” thus, living a normal married life with John does not fit

her. The author also shows that Ellen is struggling emotionally, saying that Ellen “felt

terrible, hurting John, but (I) couldn’t marry him just because (I) didn’t want to hurt him…”

(21). In the end, her father hugs her, saying: “your mother knew that you weren’t going to

marry that guy” (23) to which Mr. DeCuervo agrees to.

Had Ellen not heard this story about their mother’s affair from Lizzie, still she will

not proceed with marrying John. From the start of the story, the author clearly implies that

Ellen already has her reservations about pursuing a married life with John. Her decision to

break up with her fiancée is much more reinforced after she reminisces about the outlandish

moments shared between Mr. DeCuervo and her mother and seeing the three of them,

including her father, spooned up against each other in the cabin, which in itself is disturbing

and scandalous to the people outside of their family. After learning from her mother’s own

words that love is not a pie, she then realizes that love and marriage are not something that

should be confined within the boundaries of how a society dictates it as ‘normal’ to which

John is tied to. And when John replies: “I don’t understand, Ellen. We’ve already ordered the

invitations” (22), Ellen realizes she made the right decision. With this, Ellen’s conflict is

resolved.
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Works Cited

Bloom, Amy. "Love is Not a Pie." Bloom, Amy. Come to Me: Stories. New York:

HarperCollins, 1993. 1-23.