It could be worse you know...

Up till now, most of Carver's short stories have couples as the main characters. Almost in every single one except in The Compartment where he does in fact revolve the story around a divorce. So it makes me think, does Carver have a problem with happy couples? Does there exist the possibility that Carver had an unhappy life regarding his personal romances? And takes out his frustration in writing? 

In the short story, A small good thing, Carver for the first time shows that 'special' connection we see relating couples. Since the couple is going through one of the worst things that a parent could possibly imagine they do the right thing at stick together, be there for each other, since both of them know how their feeling. 

For the most part, this story is very sad, it went from being the preparation of a birthday party to the death of an 8 year old child. Throughout the whole book we see constant suffering, frustration and rage. First, in the bakery when ordering the cake and then waiting in the hospital, seeing Franklin's family and later on Scotty's death. 

It makes me think of how we take things for granted everyday in our lives, you never know what will happen tomorrow, when will be the last time you see a person, and much less how things COULD be worse. I know for a fact that when something bad happens to us it is very hard to actually take in that there exists worse things but at the same time we are so caught up in our stuff and at times so arrogant that we think our problems are the only ones that exist. Of course we cannot spend our entire lives thinking of how bad things could become but it wouldn't hurt to realize that sometimes we make a fuss out of a very small thing. 

Also in this short story we witness Carver's writing style at its best. He starts his story in 3rd person and somehow along the way ends up switching it to 1st person and back again. Also at the beginning he throws us off track with the description of the baker and the women's thoughts, in other words we would never expect the story to end up revolving around the birthday boy's terrible accident. As I mentioned in my previous blogs he also uses very short and direct sentences, there is no 'treading around the bush'. "He fell on his side with his head in the gutter and his legs out in the road. His eyes were closed, but his legs moved back and forth as if he were trying to climb over something". This passage is a clear example of how direct his sentences can be and also how even though the situation is quite traumatizing he still finds a way to add a hint of humour to it. 

Build up, Build up, But in the end no building.

After reading Carver's fourth short story, The Compartment, I realized that most of his short stories relate to human behavior. In fact, some readers may even be able to relate to his stories. They don't have to necessarily have to go through the same things but they might have experienced the same feelings to those of the main characters.  

I found it very interesting that for most of the story Carver builds it up to the supposed point where the man meets his son. He explains their relationship and how the whole trip was designed to reach that meeting point. But the end is completely the opposite. The man ends up not meeting his son at all, he even decides that it wasn't even worth it and that deep down he feels nothing towards his son other than pity. This is a clear example of how Carver due to his short and direct sentences can completely change the mood of the story in seconds. 

Some questions that I have still have are:

Was the son actually at the train station?

Or was it all a set up? As if to say, did he set up his dad to travel such a longs way and end up in nothing? As revenge?

Also, I want to point out something we mentioned in class. How Carver actually died from his problem with alcoholism. This just made me think about how in one of the previous stories, one of the main characters suffered from alcoholism. There was even a short passage where he describes how the character's wife began to notice certain symptoms that related to the alcoholism problem. 

Couch

In Carver's third short story, Preservation, made me laugh a lot. 

The story basically describes how a man went from having work to ending up sitting on a couch just watching tv and eating. His wife on the other hand works and critices her husband and his decision concerning the couch. 

I found it quite funny the image of a grown man sitting on a couch for a long time without having the need to get up and do something with his life. 

"That goddamn sofa! As far as she was concerned, she didn't even want to sit on it again."

I also found this passage very funny. She is clearly blaming the sofa for her husband's actions when in reality it is her husband to blame. 

In relation to the fridge event, I do not see the point in it. I did not find any relationship with the story. Which made me realize that this is not the only time where Carver does this. He uses short and choppy sentences. No sophistication whatsoever and much less any details.  

So thats the end then?

In the short story Chef's House, their is a couple who spends an entire summer together. Carver lets us know from the beginning that this couple is actually divorced due to the husband's alcoholism. 

Also from the start this story left me with a couple of questions.

Why would the Ex wife decide to go spend a summer with her ex husband?

Did she forgive him?

Or was she simply scared for him? 

As if to say, scared that if she didn't go he would go back to his old habits?

From what we can see later on in the story the couple actually has a really good time until the owner of the house, Chef, decides that his daughter must move in and asks them to leave. The husband, who suffers from alcoholism, has the urge to drink again now that he realizes that summer is over and the good times have ended. 

"We'll clean it up tonight, I thought, and that will be the end of it"

Although this ending is talking about the big mess that the fridge made, we can interpret it in a totally different way. This short passage could mean that she is actually talking about their relationship and how even though they had a good time it is also time to face reality. And sadly the reality is that her husband still has his problem with alcohol. 

Ugly Babies

As we discussed in class, Carver's book Cathedral has no meaning whatsoever, as if to say it is simply a collection of his short stories.  

In the past, I have always viewed short stories as 'entertainment' tools, they don't have a deeper meaning, they are simply there to entertain. But my opinion has changed radically, these short stories do have their own story behind it, it just depends on the way you view it. It is up to you to decide whether or not to look deeper, and I realized that the message that these short stories give you can be interpreted in many ways, that is depending on the way you want to interpret them.

In Feathers for example, it is a story about a couple who have a small dinner at another couple's house. This is very normal, it is not something that is viewed as impossible or anything like it. But certain elements such as the peacock give the story a complete turn over. First of all, I have never heard of anyone who would have this animal as a pet and much less let it play with a baby and let it go in the house. Also things like the description of the teeth and the fact that the couple later regret that night as the night where they concieved their child leaves the reader very confused. 

Apart from this, from the start we can see that Carver's writing style is very concise and direct. Although he does use many details when describing something at the same time he does not 'run around in circles'. An example of how direct his writing is can be seen when he describes the baby. "It was so ugly I couldn't say anything. No words would come out of my mouth." (pg. 20)

Also when I read this passage I wasen't in shock at all, on the contarary I found it quite funny. I can never imagine a baby being so ugly, in fact most babies are known for their 'cuteness' and some may have their physical flaws but they are never described in the way that Carver describes this baby. By this, we can also see that Carver uses alot of black humour in his short stories. Things that seem do not seem funny at all, and at times cruel, are what make them funny.