Raymond Carver Neighbors Essay

The reader will find it difficult to draw connections between these neighbors and themselves when they hardly even know many intimate details about the lives of these characters. However, this is because the reader is put into a position where they are viewing characters from an outside perspective in the same way that the neighbors view each other: with little information about their lives. This is backed up in Neal Alexander’s article, titled “Profoundly Ordinary: Jon McGregor and Everyday Life”, where Alexander comments on the anonymous nature of the neighborhood, stating “The calculated anonymity that results is clearly intended to make a point about the nature of contemporary urban life, where neighbors typically maintain a defensive reserve toward one another” (Alexander 729-730). The novel maintains a type of irony in that it must detach the reader from the story in order to connect them in the same way that the characters are connected.

Moreover, Carver uses first person point of view to describe the narrator’s life and the meaning of the cathedral to him. Through the first person point of view given to the narrator and one of the main characters of the story, Carver is able to portray a narrator who is jealous and insecure of himself. The narrator’s

~ The first proof of this is in the title: The Strangers That Came To Town, which refers to the Duvitch family as strangers instead of neighbors.

Carver uses foreshadowing as a prominent element in this story. There are many examples of foreshadowing throughout the story. The first time the reader gets to see obvious foreshadowing is when the woman picks up the picture of the baby off the bed where the man is packing his belongings. “Then she noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up. He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room” (277). This small detail foreshadows that physical altercation that the couple will go through with the baby. The last big foreshadow that the reader gets is when the couple knocks over the flower pot. “The baby was red-faced and screaming. In the scuffle they knocked own a flowerpot that hung behind the stove” (277). This is very brief and only mentioned in this sentence. But this is the foreshadowing of the relationship that is broken, or even worse the baby being broken along with the relationship. While there are details at the beginning on the story, there are smaller things that can easily be looked over but are very important. The characters in this story, since it is minimalist fiction, are not ever given names. The characters are always just referred to as; the man, the woman, and the baby. The audience never finds out why the couple is breaking

Carver lived most of his life in a world which could not provide the luxury of

There is a sense of coziness and belonging that permeates the beginning of the story. The yard and the

At the beginning of the story the husband is telling of a blind man coming to visit him and his wife. The narrator?s wife had worked for the blind man at one point. Since then they have maintained a strong friendship and keep in touch with tapes. The narrator talks about not looking forward to the blind

Through Raymond Carver’s minimalist styled writing, comes “Neighbors,” a story about a seemingly ordinary couple who live dreary and plain lives. In the first few paragraphs we have a detailed description of the type of people, the relationship, and occupations Bill and Arlene Miller have. Later on, the story begins to spark a more dark and mysterious conflict by unraveling the Miller’s strange obsessions. Carver uses third person objective point of view to add onto his technique of simplistic writing & to create a more intense mystery.

Raymond Carver chose to make the narrator a dynamic character to successfully illustrate how many people, at some point in their life, will realize a certain, unsettling conflict they have within themselves and learn from it. The narrator being a dynamic character, symbolizes those members in today’s society. In the story, the narrator realizes his internal conflict when despite the image of a cathedral being on the TV right in front of him, he cannot verbally explain what it is. This creates an unsettling feeling within the narrator. This then helps him to later realize his own shallow nature and, in a sense, how he himself is “blind”. Many people experience this unsettledness within themselves at some point throughout their life. Once they see these issues within themselves, and overcome their conflict, they grow as a person, just as the narrator demonstrates throughout the story.

This self-evaluation helps the characters overcome their crisis of communication, which progressively transforms them throughout the story. Minimalism simultaneously affects the different forms of communication in Carvers writing.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Neighborly relations have declined in the U.S. since the 1950s. Some 28 percent of us know none of our neighbors’ names, particularly pervasive among younger and lower-income people,” (Mildenstein). Why is it that our society has become less neighborly? In our society today, people are caught up in themselves and do not like to connect personally or physically with their neighbors. Because of this, they do not take the time out of their day to meet or socialize with their neighbors. Since the 1950s, our societies values and morals have changed dramatically. We now have the whole world at our fingertips, and feel like we do not need the physical presence of people in our lives. Consequently, good neighbors have become extremely hard to come by. However, when ones neighbor is cordial, cooperative, and gracious, ones everyday life can become a bit easier.

The short story is written in a colloquial tone and reads similarly to an unfocused train of thought, conveying simplicity and realism within the piece. The narrator frequently drifts from a complete statement to an aside throughout the narrative; for example, while discussing the poem his wife composed about her friend Robert he offhandedly recalls, “...I didn’t think much of the poem. Of course, I didn’t tell her that. Maybe I just don’t understand poetry,” (Carver 356). This passage, and others similar to it, cause the flow of the plot to meander, rather than adhere to a strict linear format. Additionally, while the abrupt and nonchalant remarks hold little substance to the narrator, they give the reader a window to the substantial disconnect between the narrator and his peers.

This bitterness and sarcasm is revealed as strong characteristics of the narrator. Throughout the majority of the story, the narrator continues shows his distaste for any "happy" situation. Much like the hyphenated asides, Carver implements fragmented sentences behind description, to show the narrator pausing for a moment of color commentary.

Bill's fantasy of being like the Stone's may be shown by his actions of taking a bottle of Harriet's pills (14), and drinking and eating their food, with no qualms of invade his neighbors privacy (16). On page 15, Bill ""had the feeling that he left something" as he was closing the door to the Stone's apartment. It is likely that he felt he was leaving behind the false persona of who and how he wanted to live like.

Carver describes this scene with an emotional detachment, concentrating more on what is happening, rather than why. In her essay about understanding Carver's revisions, Hashimoto says that minimalistic writing describes the events as they transpire, allowing the reader to draw his own conclusions. It is most likely that this is Carver's goal.