In Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless mind, the entire movie was designed like piece of literature - the entire story revolved around the characters, and had very little to do with actual events. It was all just human interaction. However, the movie didn't just do that. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless mind conveyed it's plot line by telling the story of the characters in a mixed order.
The movie opens with introducing the two main characters. Joel, who is really reclusive and shy, and Clementine, who is the Polar opposite. This is well represented in the movie, and especially in the screenplay, where Clementine is doing her best to carry on a conversation, and she starts rambling and talking about nothing, and Joel just sits there and acts "nice."
Once Joel goes to have his memories erased, it starts out with the bad memories, thus beginning this backwards analyzation of a relationship gone wrong. One time when they are unhappy and arguing is when Clementine brings up the issue of wanting to have a baby, and Joel retorts with "Do you really think you could take care of a kid?" This also helps to convey the idea that Joel and Clementine are symbolic of all relationships in one way or another, since that is a very common argument for a boyfriend/girlfriend or husband/wife to have.
Then, it loops back around to the good memories. I believe this is meant to be a commentary on how so many more relationships would stay in tact if people would just remember what things were like when they first started out, and not what they eventually turned into. One scene showing good memories was when they were at the movies, and they were putting words into the actor's mouths to make the dialigue humorous. When things started disappearing, this was one of the times that Joel actually started fighting for the memory, and trying to hide Clementine, so that she wouldn't disappear. This helped to build the story arc even more by showing the versatility of Joel's and Clementine's relationship, and portraying a happy time from when they were together, showing what things had initially been like for them.
Finally, Joel awakens from having his memory erased, and it reveals that his memories from the beginning actually took place after everything else. It shows the story in this order - Joel and Clementine meeting, having an awkward relationship, getting to like each other, then hating each other, then at the peak of their love for each other, then once again meeting each other. This accomplishes something quite unique, and that is a radically different perspective on relationships, one where time and chronology doesn't matter, but rather, the simple existance of the memory. The characters and the jumbled timeline drive this theme, and they are what really make it work.
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