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