Everything Stuck To Him By Raymond Carver Analysis

Raymond Carver’s choices like the setting, themes, and other methods of characterization impact the meaning and development of his short, frame story“Everything Stuck to Him”. His use of symbolism, word choice, use of a frame story allow readers to understand a deeper meaning in his story, the story occurs in November, a period of change, and Carver chooses to keep his main characters unnamed while minor characters have names. The story takes place in November as the seasons change from fall to winter. This symbolizes the changes in the boy 's life. In Carver’s external story many things are changing and developing differently than the boy and the girl expected in the narrator’s internal story. He describes a family in which the father and mother have difficulties within their relationship. These problems relate to the boy’s responsibilities and priorities as a father. He is still young and wants to do things for himself, even though he has a child he needs to care for. This results in a change in their life together, as at the end of the story the mother no longer appears to be in the picture. The symbolism in using the month of November as a setting indicates that the young father’s life is going to change drastically. “The baby came along in November

“I could tell you about something that happened when you were a baby,” (carver 1327). He could have just told the story without introducing the father and daughter in the beginning, but Carver did not do this in order to show the interaction between the father and daughter. This relationship between the father and daughter is important since it seems as though the mother is no longer involved in their lives for whatever reason. This format also allows the internal story’s narrator to reflect on past events that changed