Darkness; the complete loss of light or evil. In Raymond Carver’s, “Popular Mechanics,” darkness is a frequent visitor in the story. As the altercation between the couple escalates, the loss of light increases until it is completely gone. Carver also mentions the flowerpot shattering right as the man tugs on the baby. Some may argue that the shattered flowerpot better reflects how the argument destroys the entire family. However, the flowerpot only represents parts of the fight while the increasing darkness represents the whole dispute.
The increasing darkness parallels the fight because as the darkness escalates, so does the fight. Throughout the story, the author incorporates darkness and shadows when the altercation takes place. In the beginning the author says, “Cars slushed by on the street where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too” (Carver 1). Even in the beginning the author is hinting that the darkness represents the fight between the pair and that the whole ordeal could only end in disaster. As the fight reaches its peak in the kitchen, the author says, “The kitchen window gave no light. In the
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“In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot” (Carver 3). The broken flower pot symbolises that the family is shattered and cannot be put back together. The flowerpot is ruined by the fight, showing the pot itself is also a result of the increasing darkness. Since the flower pot is only a piece of the story, it does not show how the fight continues to grow and consume everything, like darkness. Also, the broken flowerpot was only mentioned once in the story while the darkness was mentioned multiple times throughout the story hinting that the darkness is a more important representation of the fight. Therefor, the flowerpot is not capable of representing the fight as well as the darkness