I am deeply ambivalent about Raymond Carver. My beef with this particular dead guy has less to do with his fine stories than with his 1980s-era apotheosis into an academic demigod‚ his canonization as St. Ray of the MFA programs‚ the way his works and style became paradigms to be slavishly imitated by a generation (maybe two generations now) of American writing students‚ a process of sowing that came to barren fruition in the bland‚ flat‚ snowy fields of zero-degree Minimalist prose. All this has
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CATHEDRAL by Raymond Carver Raymond Carver‚ the author of Cathedral was born in Oregon in 1938. He came from a poor family. At the age of 40 he was one of the most promising writers of his generation and was also near ruin in everyway from alcoholism. He quit drinking but lung cancer took over- taking his life at the age of 50. He wrote 3 collections of stories: “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”‚“ Cathedral” and “Elephant”‚ poems and essays. He was considered a minimalist until Cathedral
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Pleasantly Obese Raymond Carver’s short story “Fat” brings the reader through a life changing moment for a waitress. The unnamed woman‚ who describes her encounter with an obese man to her friend Rita‚ is completely engaged in everything about the fat man while she waits him; his size‚ his appetite‚ and especially his hospitality towards her. Through the waitress’ thoughts‚ Carver repeatedly brings up the concept of obesity in his story. He allows her mind to tell the reader which parts are important
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Cathedral The short story "Cathedral"‚ written by Raymond Carver‚ was first published in 1983. This short story deals with one main problem: Prejudices. The short story is about a man‚ the narrator‚ which wife is going to meet her old friends‚ Robert‚ whom is blind. At first the main character aren’t looking forward meeting the blind man. His sigh of being a handicapped is narrow-minded: “In the movies‚ the blind move slowly and never laughed” (ll. 8-9). Prejudices are something that has always
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All We Really Need in Life is Each Other Raymond Carver’s “Neighbors” is a moral based story. In the beginning of their marriage Bill and Arlene were very content with one another’s companionship‚ but now they live in envy of their neighbors‚ Harriet and Jim. It seemed to the Millers that the Stones live a much more fulfilling life. When Harriet and Jim are away on business/vacation trip they would entrust Bill and Arlene to feed Kitty‚ water the plants‚ and look after their apartment. The Miller’s
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to reflect on the world in which they live. What do the writers Chekhov and Carver say about the struggles of real life in the society around them? Discuss‚ using quotes and references to characters and scenes within the chosen short stories. The short stories‚ ‘The Bet’ and ‘Cathedral’ by Anton Chekhov and Raymond Carver respectively‚ both investigate the struggles of real life in society around them. Chekhov and Carver present the struggles created by greed and jealousy‚ how easily one takes
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“They’re Not Your Husband” is a short story by Raymond Carver‚ where he writes about the man named Earl Ober‚ who is an unemployed salesman‚ with his wife (Doreen) working as a waitress‚ at a 24-hour coffee shop. After a night of drinking as he usually does he goes to see the place where his wife works. Here he is treated like a nuisance by his wife. Two men start talking about his wife’s weight and this bothers Earl greatly. He decides to let Doreen know that she (he) has a problem with her weight
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“Cathedral” is a very complex short story. Although the actual story only takes up about 5 pages‚ that’s all Raymond Carver needed to compel an invigorating enlightenment. The narrator of this story is unnamed yet we get to see him grow rapidly in this short story. After meeting Robert‚ who at one time was his wife’s boss‚ he begins to see the world differently‚ and is able to change his views and realize the world isn’t as black and white as he would like it to be. When we meet the narrator he is
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extreme. “Popular Mechanics‚” written by Raymond Carver‚ is a concise story in which a man and woman go through a separation. The process of their separation brings out their incessantly blatant resentment toward each other. The result of the couple’s tensions is selfish behavior. To develop the theme of selfishness‚ Raymond Carver portrayed the relationship between the man and woman as a competition between rivals‚ and displayed them as unsympathetic. Carver explicates the couple’s relationship as
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the beginning‚ Raymond Carver starts the story with “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water”. He doesn’t say in plain text that the story involves conflict‚ but the words he uses are very specific details to what is happening. This quotes applies to this short story because the author takes a normal or common couple fighting and turns it into something powerful. There are certain things throughout the story that can be used as symbolism. Carver quotes “In the
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