Who is petey in the story 'love is a fallacy'?

In "Love Is a Fallacy" by Max Shulman, Petey is a raccoon that the protagonist, a college student, uses as a metaphor to illustrate his logical arguments. He represents the idea of instinct versus reason, as the protagonist believes that love can be approached with rationality. Petey's antics and the protagonist's interactions with him serve to highlight the tension between emotion and logic in matters of the heart. Ultimately, Petey symbolizes the complexities of love that cannot be fully understood through reason alone.