“The delight of being in the presence of the loved one”
The Power of the Dog (Thomas Savage Edition)“The delight of being in the presence of the loved one” is George Burbank’s private definition of love, formed during a kitchen-table conversation with Rose Gordon Burbank. Its significance lies in the contrast between his professed uncertainty about love and the ease and pleasure he already finds in simply sitting with her.
The phrase in context
The moment unfolds at the deal table beside the kitchen window, while Rose mixes biscuits. George reads the words on sauce bottles, notices that the river is low after a dry fall, and traces the flowers printed on the oilcloth. Their conversation stays with ordinary things; when Rose mentions that Peter Gordon is at school washing windows, she pauses, wondering whether George might take her remark as provocative. Instead, he says he expects she must be proud of Peter.
George’s attention to these small details accompanies a growing ease in Rose’s company. He likes the flour on her hands and enjoys the conversation, which he thinks may turn more sprightly. The phrase names the feeling implicit in that unremarkable exchange: presence itself can be a source of pleasure, without requiring a confession or a dramatic declaration.
Meaning and narrative function
George tells himself that he knows no more of love than he does of tears, then immediately arrives at a confident understanding: “In other words, he knew all there was to know about love, that it’s the delight of being in the presence of the loved one.” The self-correction gives the passage its gentle irony. His first thought casts love as something beyond his knowledge; the second makes it recognizable through his own experience of enjoying Rose’s company.
The expression therefore defines love through attention rather than explanation. The dry-fall conversation, the flowers beneath George’s tracing finger, and the flour on Rose’s hands keep the insight rooted in the material details of the kitchen. What he understands is not an elaborate theory of love, but a simple form of intimacy: being there, noticing, and wanting the conversation to continue.
