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Literary Elements In Raymond Carver's Everything Stuck To Him

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Certain literary elements, when used with style and strategy, can significantly enhance the quality of a story. In "Everything Stuck to Him," by Raymond Carver, literary elements such as his minimalist style, symbols, and indirect characterization enrich the story.
Carver uses concise language in this short story. This has the effect of making this story feel very simple at first glance. This simplicity of the story takes out the author's feelings and opinions and allows the reader to insert their own voice, feelings, and opinions. One example of this is that Carver doesn't use proper punctuation in dialogue, so the reader decides how to read the story. Another example is that he doesn't use very complex vocabulary so the reader gets a clear …show more content…

The inner story is all about a young couple who don't quite have their lives figured out yet. Carver expertly conveys this detail through small, simple scenarios. The boy and the girl, as he refers to them, live in a small apartment above a dentist's office. They live there in exchange for maintaining the property, cleaning, and gardening. Since the couple has access to the office, they have been using the letterhead of the dentist, for personal use. This shows that the couple is not mature. They don't act like adults in doing this. As the boy gets ready to hunt, he portrays another element of characterization. As he gets ready his wife says when he gets back they will dress up the baby, and go visit her sister. The boy goes on to talk about how pretty her sisters are and if he hadn't married the sister that is his wife, he may have married another of the two sisters. This shows the boys immaturity and his lack of understanding about the purpose of marriage, to be with one person. Another example that showed the immaturity of the boy was that when his wife was struggling with the baby, he was in the process of leaving for his hunting trip. His wife told him she didn't want to be left alone while the baby was so fussy. However, the boy continued to explain how he had planned this outing and kept getting ready to go. The wife gave him an ultimatum and made him choose between her and the baby,

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The narrator then proceeds to show Robert what a cathedral looks like by taking his hand and drawing a cathedral on “a shopping bag with onion skins in the the bottom of the bag.” (Carver 110) . Through this bricolage, the narrator closes his eyes and has an epiphany, for in this moment where his eyes are closed, hands intertwined, he truly sees, and “ ‘It’s really something,” (Carver 135). It’s the minimalistic approach that prefaces this big event that really showcases the theme. Carver’s use of colloquial language, in creation of an increasingly relatable scene allows for the reader to empathize with the narrator, allowing for a much stronger impact when the epiphany occurs and the story’s theme has been

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