preview

The Use Of Drama In Viewfinder By Raymond Carver

Decent Essays

Although drama is key to any story, short or long, the setting and the props surrounding the drama add a more dynamic element to the story. Raymond Carver is an example of a writer that utilizes day to day settings in all his stories and then adds props surrounding the characters. It is able to give more insight to the narrator’s personality that you wouldn’t learn if the props weren’t a part of the story or through dialogue. He is able to let the narrator speak about the narrator’s surroundings and most specifically the images and props he or she sees that provokes the narrator into vividly describing it to us through the writing of the author. I read the story “Viewfinder” by Raymond Carver. In this story, a man shows up at the narrator’s door to sell a photograph of the man’s house to him, but the narrator sees the photograph and sees himself standing in the window. The narrator invites him in for a cup of tea and decides he wants a photograph with his house. At the end, the narrator is seen on the roof of his house throwing rocks in the air and the man with the Polaroid camera trying to capture the moment when the rock is in motion. The imagery in this story is unique because although it takes place in a simple setting, a house, Carver uses that to his advantage by being able to vividly describe small items or moments within the house and between two characters. Carver zooms in on one specific prop, a Polaroid camera, and writes, “It was an old Polaroid, big and black.

Get Access