Popular Mechanics Raymond Carver

In the stories “Popular Mechanics”, written by Raymond Carver, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, written by Ernest Hemingway, show the struggles that sometimes happens while being in a relationship. In “Popular Mechanics” Carver shows the struggle of being cheated on and the fight between the couple over their baby. The baby becomes more of an item when they fight trying to show who is a better person and parent. In “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway shows that not everyone wants to have a baby and that it can change your life drastically. The couples in “Popular Mechanics” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are arguing over a baby, are splitting up, and the stories have settings that represent what is happening.
Both Couples are arguing

However, the couple in “Hills Like White Elephants” are thinking about breaking up. “Popular Mechanics” starts with the man “pushing clothes into a suitcase” and the woman yelling at him saying “I’m glad you’re leaving!” showing that they have broken up and he is about to move out (Carver). The couple has already decided that they are not going to be together before the beginning of the story while in “Hills Like White Elephants” they decide during the story. In “Hills Like White Elephants” the couple are together trying to decide if they are going to have a baby or not. The man acts like he would be fine with having the baby but it is obvious he doesn’t want it at all saying “I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple” (Hemingway 925). She likes the idea of having a baby throughout the story and the man realizes she wants to have it. At the end of the story he walks through the bar and has a drink by himself and “look[s] at the people” to get used to being in a bar by himself again (Hemingway 926). He is planning to break up with her because she wants to have the baby and he wants to live his life the way he has been. When he gets back to her she has decided to have the baby if he wants to or not and is fine with it if he leaves saying “I feel fine… there’s nothing wrong with me” as in if there is something wrong it is with him (Hemingway

“Popular Mechanics” use the time of year and weather to show the mood of the story. In “Hills Like White Elephants” where they are and the landscape around them show what is happening in the story. In “Popular Mechanics” Carver starts the story off with the time of year and weather that shows what the mood of the story will be: “the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark.” This is showing after the bright snow that reminds people of happy times and Christmas cheer is mixing with the dirt and going back to the unhappy times. Carver also adds “But it was getting dark on the inside too” showing that even inside the houses is becoming unhappy. This setting emphasizes the mood the couple are feeling towards each other. They are feeling unhappy and dislike towards each other because what we can imply the man has cheated on the woman. The couple in “Hills Like White Elephants” are stopped at a train station that is between two different landscapes. “On [one] side there was no shade and no trees” this side of the train station represents what life would be like if she would not have the baby. Her life would be like “the dry side of the valley” (Hemingway 923, 926). “On the other side [of the valley] were fields of grain and trees along the banks of Ebro. Far away, beyond the