Raymond Carver

Book Review # 99260

English > Analysis
Literature > American

Raymond Carver

A analysis of Raymond Carver's life experiences as portrayed in his stories stories "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please," "So Much Water, So Close to Home," "Cathedral," and "Errand".

1,168 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Raymond Carver's stories reflect his own life experiences and show a change in style over time. As such, the stories he wrote also changed in flavor as his life changed. The paper attempts to show that, whether it was his own struggle with alcoholism or his experiences working in a sawmill, many of the settings and situations in Carver's stories can be linked to his real life. The paper also looks at how a progression is apparent in the stories "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please," "So Much Water, So Close to Home," "Cathedral," and "Errand" and how each of these stories, written at different times in Carver's life, has a different style and feel, showing his progression as a writer.

From the Paper:

"In Carver's 1976 story "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" the author very effectively chooses detail and description to build up suspense and concern for the main character, Ralph. After finding out that his wife has cheated on him, Ralph has a night on the town where, among other things, he is mugged. Both his wife's cheating and his current uncomfortable situation do not need excessive detail to evoke empathy in the reader. Carver simply shows up, through the clear cause and effect, how events unfold for Ralph and his wife. Bethea believes that Ralph and Marian having sex at the end shows an epiphany in Ralph (133). "

Sample of Sources Used:

Bethea, Arthur F. "Carver's 'Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?'" Explicator 56.3 (Spring 1998): 132-135.
Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 5th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedfor/St. Martins, 1999. 237-247.
Cornwell, Gareth. "Mediated Desire and American Disappointment in the Stories of Raymond Carver." Studies in Contemporary Fiction 46.4 (Summer 2005): 344-356.
May, Charles E. "'Do You See What I'm Saying?': The Inadequacy of Explanation and the Uses of Story in the Short Fiction of Raymond Carver." Yearbook of English Studies (2001): 39.
Meyer, Adam. "Now You See Him, Now You Don't, Now You Do Again: The Evolution of Raymond Carver's Minimalism." Critique 30.4 (Summer 1989): 235-251.