A Small Good Thing By Raymond Carver

Suburban neighborhoods have always been prided on being a community. My entire life, I’ve always lived in a suburban neighborhood and considered it to be a collaborative and friendly ideal; never once had I considered that it could actually be a symbol of isolation in America. In class we read “A small, Good Thing” by Raymond Carver, a postmodern short fiction writing emphasizing the unintentional isolation that comes with moving and living in a suburban neighborhood. Despite the family in the story going through a traumatic experience in which their son was hospitalized and eventually died, an unknowing baker repeatedly called the family, angered that they did not pick up their cake they ordered. The family eventually confronts the baker after the death of their son claiming that the baker could not be expected to know their situation since “Bakers can’t know everything” (Carver).

Each person has a certain expectation for others to behave and act, but completely forgets the humanity in society in which sometimes things do not occur as they ideally should. In the short story, the Baker is concerned with not only his cake, but his “sixteen-dollar cake,” conveying that he is only concerned of his own interests, and not considering or being sympathetic towards the unexpected reason for why the cake could suddenly not be picked up (Carver). An influence in the growing isolation of people in society is due to people holding others up to expectations and when their expectations are not met, they immediately blame and shame those instead of being willing to understand the