Raymond Carver's Everything Stuck To Him

The Winter is the opposite of summer, during the winter not only does the winter change but the town's appearance. The houses that once looked artificial were exposed and looked abandoned. “Winter comes down savagely over a little town on the prairie...The roofs, that looked so far away across the green treetops...they are so much more uglier then when their angles were softened by vines and

Conflict was used effectively in the short story to reveal the theme of the story. The boy has an internal conflict about which parent to stay with, and because his father left, he seemed to have favored him. He wanted him back so badly that every night, he watches him on the six o’clock news while wearing his old jackets. He was blinded by his father’s sudden departure that he forgot about what is really important. Additionally, another development in the short story’s conflict has been used effectively to reveal the theme. When the boy went to Macdonald’s to see his father’s true colors, he thought: “I finished my drink quickly, thankful that he had to be back in the studio for the news.” By the time he saw his dad for the first time in a while, he knew he was not the man he thought he was. At that moment, he also realized that he lost sight of what he had all this time: His mother’s unconditional love. If it wasn’t for the characterization of

i. The similarities with the Other Wes’s mother was that she too was never home, but the contrast lye with the mistake she made with leaving Tony as the only guardian. “Wes, now eight years old, was free from any adult supervision till then. His brother, six years older, was the closest thing Wes had to a caretaker during the daylight hours and was fiercely protective of the little brother who idolized him. But lately even Tony hadn’t been around much (Moore 26).”

Early on in the novel, the reader begins to learn that the The Man and The Boy have a very close and intimate bond. Rather than causing a strain on the their relationship, the isolation that constantly follows the pair on The Road actually made their bond as father and son stronger . Traveling along The Road by themselves causes The Man and The Boy’s relationship to become extremely codependent. The Boy relies on The Man like any child would rely on their father. The Boy completely counts on The Man for everything, including food, shelter, clothes, and everything else that is needed to survive on The Road. The Man keeps them safe from the “bad guys” and keeps them alive and as healthy as he can. The Boy’s needs are always put before The Man’s needs. However, The Man depends upon The Boy just as much as The Boy depends on him. If it weren’t for The Boy, The Man would have been dead a long time ago. The only reason that he has survived this long is because of The Boy. Making sure The Boy survives is the only meaning that The Man has to his life. The Boy’s continued existence is the most influential motivation

The author speaks of the shame of having the only outdoor toilet in the neighborhood, driving the oldest car in town but he also mentions the trips to Seattle they took as a family and how memorable that was for him. Carver had a complex relationship with his father that began with sharing the same name. Everyone is trying to find their own identity in life, For sons who are named after their fathers this seems to be a more difficult task.

Parenthood was a factor in the boy’s life, this ideas gives you an insight on what he wanted the reader to convey. here are two different emotions running through this story from both the boys. In the author Wes Moore the emotion you feel while reading it is hurt and compassion.

Raymond Carvers My Fathers Life tells the story of his father’s life while also elucidating the problems that his father had, that led to an unhappy life as he grew older. Raymond Carvers father was a drinker, cheater, and couldn’t stay in one place for too long. These characteristics drove his father to a low point in his life and he wasn't somebody for Raymond to look up to. Throughout the story he describes his father’s life, pointing out most of the events that went wrong, and how his father moved constantly for new work. He describes the rough times, with a few moments of happiness. Raymond later realizes that growing up watching his father live that terrible lifestyle was showing up in him as an adult. He delivers this personal narrative in a way that shows what you shouldn't do as a father and husband. Clevie Raymond Carver was never fit to be an father and his actions

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

The dreary and melancholy tone which pervades the excerpt reveals something fundamental of the narrator. And that the character runs counter to what one may first expect from the typical twelve year old boy. This juxtaposition is seen within the first few sentences, where Judd goes from describing his times as a child - which we would expect to be recalled as lively and energetic

In the novel, “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, the seasons develop actions and characters in the story. The story takes place at an all-boys boarding school in New Hampshire during World War II based off of the author’s previous experiences at a boarding school. The two main characters, Finny and Gene, experience character development alongside different seasons. In written works, seasons are commonly used to symbolically represent a change in the character’s personalities. The nature or setting of the story is used to specifically evolve Finny and Gene in seasons such as the summer, autumn, and winter. Each season change also generates an entirely different mood.

Raymond Carver's "A Small Good Thing," a short story that has to do with the lack of interaction and empathy between the baker, Ann and Howard, the finale where the baker is startled to find out about the child's death, asks for mercy and presents them warm cinnamon rolls telling them that "Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this" and they are comforted, reveals particular significance of the title in terms of the story's theme. Also, Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," a story that starts with an ignorant and rude narrator whose wife has called a blind friend to spend the night at their home and according to Carver, "A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to,"(38) has some

Helen Oyeyemi’s novel Boy, Snow, Bird deals with tendentious issues such as abuse, race, beauty, and mother daughter relationships. Many of these issues are blatantly illustrated throughout this story between different characters. Often more than one relationship deals with each of these issues, and most of these relationships deal with more than one issue at a time. That being said, some of the relationships deal with their issues and themes in a much more subtle way than others. One relationship in particular deals with issue very subtly, Charlie and Boy’s. Charlie and Boy grew up together in the same town, and he even asked her to prom, wrote to her, toke her to see fireworks (Oyeyemi 7-9). The two of them formed an unspoken sporadic romance. The relationship between Charlie and Boy acts as a window into the circle of abuse and abandonment, builds a foundation of feigning a position of power, and connects to the theme of beauty.

Carver also emphasizes the contradictions within the characters themselves in the story, which illustrates the uncertainty of love, and how there is not a clearly defined approach to understanding it. Returning to the topic of Terri's previous marriage, Mel, her current husband, complains about his failure to understand how she could refer to that abusive relationship as love. However, later on when she corrects him while he is talking, he turns to her and asks her to "shut up" (Carver 767). Another important contradiction which takes place throughout the entire story, is how the four friends are discussing a subject which they all have had bad experiences with, since they have all been divorced and remarried. The contradictions throughout Carver's story symbolize how love can also contradict itself, and trying to understand love is impossible since so many particular cases can negate specific examples of love.

One of the most striking things about the beginning of the story is that it becomes clear to the reader that Carver may be exploring the theme of communication. This story starts with the scene where Ann Weiss (mother) is in a baker’s shop ordering a cake for her son Scotty’s birthday, at the same time Scotty had a car incident which resulted in coma later on. Throughout the story each of Scotty’s parents spends some time at home while another one is in the hospital and in these parts the author shows internal and external conflicts. External conflicts would include the baker ringing the Weiss household. He wants his money.

As Irvin Howe, said “It is a meager life that Mr. Carver portrays, without religion or politics or culture, without the shelter of class or ethnicity, without the support of strong folkways or conscious rebellion. It’s the life of people who cluster in the folds of our society.” Who will have the baby and what happened to the couple’s relationship at the end, the outcome of the fight, and the baby. It is difficult to tell who ends up with the baby, who give up and lets the baby go, or does the baby end up getting hurt, or even killed. “In this manner, the issues was decided”. The overwhelming, mysterious story, captivates the reader attention and leaves us to decide, what could we think happened at the end of the