Even thought the stories are not about the glamorous side of life, this doesn’t make them uninteresting- if anything it draws the reader in more; the curiosity becoming more intense as the reader relates the stories to his or her own situation. This is where Carver picked up his “dirty realist” “blue collar” label- by simply showing what really goes on, instead of trying to hide the bad points of life like a lot of previous writers.
It is likely he picked up inspiration from previous short story writers, such as Hemingway, Joyce, Kafka and Chekhov. Chekhov’s “Grief” can be related to Carver’s “They’re not your husband”. Both stories are about husbands who treat their wives badly and their ignorance leads to the downfall of their wives. The difference is the wife in “Grief” dies, and the wife in “They’re not your husband” dies. However, both go through a period of difficulty, and in “Grief” this leads to the death of the wife.
Both show realistic, comparable situations, even though they are set in different times and places.
“They’re not your husband” is a frank example of how other people’s views are of no importance to Carver. When Bill and Arlene totally invade the privacy of someone else’s life, no mention is ever made of whether what they are doing is of right or wrong. We are given a simple description of what is going on- almost like a report, and we are never given a suggestion of Carver’s views on the situation. He is simply describing real life, giving no indication of whether things like distrust, infidelity and anger are actually wrong. He lets the readers decide for themselves, as in “Tell the Women We’re Going”- when Jerry hits the two girls with he rock, what he has done is blatantly wrong, but still no indication is given that it is. The most it ever comes to is: “Jerry used the same rock on both girls. First on the girl called Sharon and then on the one that was supposed to be Bill’s.” There is a slightly depressing tone, but I think only because the reader interprets it in that way. Carver cleverly uses his language to create a depressing and shocking image because the way he describes it is so matter-of-fact that what is about to happen is completely unpredictable, and still there is no actual proof that he has said that this is wrong.
In “Jerry and Molly and Sam” the reader is naturally shocked when Al abandons the dog, giving the impression that Carver is pessimistic, but when you take a closer look, you realise that still he is giving us no impression of what is right. He never tells the reader what to believe or gives his own opinion on the treatment of the dog. It is plain report of human happenings and feelings.
Raymond Carver has the ability to tap into people’s minds and emotions. Whether these emotions are classed as “right” or “wrong” has no significance to him- he only shows the world as it is- unglamorous, mundane, and full of problems. His view on life is not pessimistic, but simply truthful. It isn’t true that he doesn’t care about grief and emotion; he just wants to show it to the world instead of hiding it away and pretending it doesn’t exist.
This insight into people’s minds helps us to understand the way people behave instead of dismissing them as strange or mad. “Lemonade” is an example of the way someone can be labeled for going through a difficult and keeping up to the standards of the self-conscious public. It is an example of just how quick people are to judge and that they can actually be quite spiteful instead of helping people through difficult periods.
Jim Sears cannot seem to bring himself out of a depression he has been going through since his son died. The opening scene is a frank description of how people are judged on face value. “Jim Sears didn’t look like a man who’d lose his only child to the high waters”. It helps to understand that these people need helping rather than shoving away.
Some people may have the view that Carver’s stories are pessimistic and focus mainly on the bad points of life- but Carver just wants the world to understand that these things do happen. People can relate these settings to their own situations and realise that if they are going through similar circumstances they are not abnormal or odd. Everyone goes through problems and I think Carver was just trying to show this and get people to admit to it, and this is why he is so blunt in his description of the world and its people. He wants people to relate it to themselves and stop trying to push away the bad things in their lives.
Carver chooses controversial issues but never says they are wrong. He writes about things like infidelity and disloyalty but brings in the idea that maybe these things aren’t wrong- just fraught with moral dilemma.
Critics had different ideas about Carver’s work. Some like it, some did not, and some over analysed it. Carver just wanted to paint a true picture of the world. David Bellamy called Carver “the most influential stylist since Donald Barthelme.” Carver himself said “Somebody called me a ‘minimalist’ writer. But I didn’t like it. There’s something about ‘minimalist’ that smacks of smallness of vision and execution that I don’t like.”
I suspect that some did not like it because they could not accept the gritty parts of life which perhaps they didn’t want to see or admit to.
People who enjoy his works probably are people who read his stories with an open mind and do not begin with the intention to judge. The above quotation shows just how much Carver disliked his stories to be judged or labeled. They are not something to be seen through or analysed- they are just stories, and like all stories, they contain right and wrong.
