ipl-logo

Popular Mechanics Raymond Carver

1735 Words7 Pages

Raymond Carvers' "Popular Mechanics" is a short story that displays the destruction and mental dysfunction of the possessive, animalistic nature of human beings. The story demonstrates the tangled love and selfishness between two parents. While at the same time presenting the savage nature of the desire for personal needs. The conflict between the parents implies that the powerless feelings, in addition to the exasperation of the two, result in the engulfment of ultimate destruction. The first half of the story displays the one-going-cold darkness that becomes increasingly demonstrated, as implied by Carver as he stated, "it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too" (Carver). This suggests that not only does the darkness …show more content…

Moreover, the selfish nature can be seen at the beginning of the story as the mother takes away the only photo of the child the father had. By taking the photo, she was showing no empathy for the father, who was making his way out. She continued to demonstrate controlling behaviors as she had made it out that the child was not his as he was supposed to "just get [his] things and get out" (Carver). She had almost been relaying that had he left her, he would have left the child that was also hers, but the father had no intention of such actions as "He reached across the stove and tightened his hands on the baby." In addition to claiming the baby for himself, the father had expressed that the only compromise to be reached would be if he had the baby for himself (Carver). Acting on his own makes it clear that as his grip tightened on the baby, he had no intention of actually caring for the well-being of his child, as he was oblivious to his actions and thought they were "not hurting the baby" (Carver). He had expressed that this was the only solution, as someone would "come for his things." The non-committing nature is yet another example of how the baby was used as more of a weapon than an actual baby that needed to be cared for. The selfish nature of the parents had come to a resolution; however, it was the darkness that had taken place inside of them that caused the ultimate destruction of their

Show More
Related
1203 Words | 5 Pages

In many sections of the novel, the characters are existing in a literal darkness. The bombing of Saint-Malo creates a stark contrast between the bright, sunny days and the dark, threatening nights “So many windows are dark. It’s as if the city has become a library of books in an unknown language, the houses great shelves of illegible volumes, the lamps all extinguished. But there is a machine in the attic at work again.

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story, the same selfishness that was shown at the beginning of the story is what ended the story as well. O’Connor used the interaction between The Misfit and Nanny to push the theme of this broken image of human expectations. When Nanny was face to face with The Misfit, she tried to encourage him to pray, and make him feel guilty for his actions to convince him not to hurt them by saying things like “I just know you’re a good man,” (O’Connor 42) and “You’re not a bad man!” (O’Connor

Read More
814 Words | 4 Pages

This wonderful man wanting to take care of his child become a father and have a family. He was willing to man up and help raised that baby he created and she denied him. The image imprinted into her skull making sure that she never forgets what she caused or done to him, will forever be played in her mind “Holland stumbled backwards, smoke wisping out of his chest like his heart was a fire that had been doused” (Rash 91). “I ran over to see how bad it was and saw Holland’s face gone white as August cotton bolls.”

Read More
1217 Words | 5 Pages

She loses her job first then her unborn child. She can’t imagine not thinking about the death of her unborn child. She is not going to survive without a job. She can only think about leaving not only the town but also, the

Read More
546 Words | 3 Pages

The husband soon becomes jealous of his wife's ability of creation and fears that he is loosing control over her. He also becomes frustrated when she can't produce for him the family he greatly desires and she desires for him. They are both devastated by countless miscarriages to the point where the husband tries to bear his own child. They become distant until the wife is finally able to bring him a

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
1463 Words | 6 Pages

to still keep established pace and tone, which is that calm, disassociated mood. At this point the father, the reader might think, is a construction of the husband’s mind, because the husband had focused on “the idea of never seeing him again. . . .” which struck him the most out of this chance meeting, rather than on the present moment of seeing him (Forn 345). However surreal this may be in real life, the narrator manages to keep the same weight through the pacing in the story to give this story a certain realism through the husband’s

Read More
261 Words | 2 Pages

In the story by Raymond Carver, “Little Things” it is described that the baby was pulled on at both ends with too much force, it would be safe to say that he is no longer living. They both go on and on bantering back and forth over who will be keeping the baby boy. They both seem pretty stern about themselves keeping him like when Carver wrote in the story that the man says, “No, but I want the baby. I'll have someone to come for his things.” and he has the Woman say, “Are you crazy!”

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

Although giving birth is the role of a woman, Nick’s father comes in and dominates the situation. When the Native Women is screaming out in pain, Nick shows empathy by begging his

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

“Just at that point, a certain sinister block of building thrust forward its gable on the street. It was two storeys high; showed no window, nothing but a door” (Stevenson 2). This quote gives the feeling of darkness because

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator is just asking to get into trouble, first stealing a stuffed parrot to be seen and heard, then stealing a car and kidnapping a baby, signifying purity and innocence, and then leaving it on its own. But when he finally gets caught, he doesn't understand his actions. Through struggle and conflict the narrator went through many emotions on his quest for love. Feeling and expressing ownership over the baby when he knows it is not capable of surviving on its own, something that is contradictory to his normal behavior. “I am not all that afraid.

Read More
675 Words | 3 Pages

The encroaching darkness was also a large factor in all of this. In the starting paragraph, “But it was getting dark on the inside too” (328) when the arguments were light, and not physical. When we start to reach the climax of the story “The Kitchen window gave no light” (329) the light starts to get snuffed out everywhere. “In the near-dark he worked on her fisted fingers with one hand and with the other hand he gripped the screaming baby” (329). In the story’s final moments, the light is almost completely out, as is the hope for the couple to reconcile or stop destroying their

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

This shows what she had to endure to try to keep her baby healthy. It appeals to the loving protective side of the reader. It makes them think about what the baby must be going through beacuase of their economic situation. Rhetorical questions are used to directly engage the

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

In that manner, King Solomon decides that the woman who cried out was the child’s true mother because she put the pain that the child would endure above her own pain of losing her child. Carver writes, “ In this

Read More
1259 Words | 6 Pages

His idiosyncrasy remains loving and understanding, even when his younger son returned home after many of been away with not a penny to his name. The young son showed disobedience to all the goodness his father had offered to him. The young son showed traits such as selfishness as well as being ungrateful. He had no worth for his father’s property nor did he want to work alongside his father on the family farm.

Read More

More about Popular Mechanics Raymond Carver

Related Topics

Open Document