Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing,” is an essay that closely resembles contemporary life and captures the excruciating anguish of a parent’s sense of helplessness and overall isolation. Elements of empathy, compassion, and understanding entice readers into thinking about their own lives--and even their own mortality and familial relationships. From the very beginning, Carver purposely withholds the characters’ proper names. Instead he refers to them as “she” or “the baker,” etc. Doing so shows that modern life is often characterized by impersonality. Carver also addresses a human being’s life purpose. For example, the baker, like many people who work in contemporary society, doesn’t live his passion. He aimlessly drifts around, goes