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Conflict In 'Popular Mechanics' By Raymond Carver

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As defined by Merriam Webster, conflict is an argument or disagreement between two parties. In Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver, Carver creates a scene where the setting is dark and stormy outside, and is also “getting dark on the inside.” A couple in a relationship where the husband is leaving his wife is created, as shown by the wife spitting out words to him such as, “I’m so glad you’re leaving!” to her husband. However, before the husband leaves, he makes one request to his wife; “I want the baby.” A conflict is constructed using this statement, which allows Carver to use literary elements such as symbolism, imagery and characterization in Popular Mechanics to reveal a theme of how often in life, people become consumed with desire, they do not realize they are harming another by doing so.
In Popular Mechanics, the …show more content…

This also represents how the couple is acting irrational due to conflict. Since they break the flowerpot recklessly, it shows how they are not thinking about what they are doing, and do not realize the effects of their actions. This is due to the couple becoming filled with the desire of wanting the baby, they become recklessness and obliviousness. Through actions of the characters, Carver reveals significant character qualities of the mother and the father, which ultimately reveals the theme of Popular Mechanics. In an exchange between the couple, the mother “tried to hold the baby over in a corner behind the stove” and both the father and mother “grabbed for the baby’s arm” in an attempt to have the baby. As the two argue, they both do actions that are irrational that put their child in danger and harm them. Since most babies are fragile, pulling at the arm can cause tremendous amounts of pain to the child, however the parents pull and grab at their baby’s arm multiple times. Also, usually, when parents realize that their child is crying or in pain, they

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