Analysis Of Popular Mechanics By Raymond Carver

In “Popular Mechanics”, Carver creates a new take on the Bible’s morality story found in Kings 3:16-28, A Wise Ruling (AKA: The Judgement of Solomon). King Solomon manages to settle a seemingly unworkable dispute between two mothers. Each tell their own similar version of the what happened: They both live together, have a child of the same age, awoke to find a dead baby beside them in the dark, but in the light realized it was not their baby. In fact, each mother accuses the other of swapping her dead baby with the others living baby. Each woman claims the baby is theirs, and Solomon can’t tell who is lying. Mainly, as there were no eyewitnesses to the events, which took place in the privacy of their home. He manages to decide who is the true

They are going through a breakup or divorce, and there is a tone of anger throughout the story. While “Popular” also plays with light and dark, in this case the fight over the baby takes place in the mostly dark kitchen, rather than the light of day. The mother is outwardly angry from the beginning, while the father is initially quiet in his anger and appears to just want to take his suitcase and leave. The mother, like the ones in Solomon is accusatory, “You can’t even look me in the face, can you?”, (perhaps the man has had an affair, she appears hurt and mad). Regardless, there is a bitterness. She sees the man is going to pack a picture of the baby, and takes it from the bed (and therefore the

One meaning is for a third party to divide assets somewhat equally amongst parties in a dispute. Meanwhile, each party really wants the one making the decision to choose a victor and a loser, because they don’t want to share any assets. Another meaning, is to split the “issues” (there’s the word issue again) between the parties, to resolve their conflict. If either of these parents went to court, it’s not certain either would “get” the