Popular Mechanics By Raymond Carver Essay

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In his story “Popular Mechanics,” by using literary elements such as plot, setting, tone and symbols, Raymond Carver displays the abhorrence in a relationship leading to the devastation of the relation itself but most importantly the child. Carver’s style of writing the story, being limited omniscient, makes the story interesting to read by telling just enough to make a picture of what is happening and leaving space for the reader’s imagination, rather than telling a step by step story. The significance of title “Popular Mechanics” is that it is common for couples/parents to use their children as retribution elements. In the beginning Carver ironically uses the weather as setting to describe the mood and atmosphere. The season used in the story is winter. As winter is season of cold and symbolizes cold, dark and gray. Where color represents happiness, joy and life and darkness represents dullness, sadness and stress. “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water.”(276). the first sentence gives the reader a hint about something that has happened between the couple in the story and their …show more content…

As the fight and argument between the couple increases, leading to the baby being harmed, but Carver does not mention to what extent. Either the baby’s arm broken or the baby ripped apart (killed), it is up to the reader to imagine and decide. Last sentence is Carver says “in this manner, the issue was decided,” this means in the violence between the couple the infant had to suffer. What happens next is not stated; it feels like story started from the middle and did not have a clear ending. It would be better if none of them got to keep the infant. By the end, the reader is fully familiarized with the subject of the story. When one reads the story between the lines, he/she understands that Carver is talking about the couple throughout the story, but actually the infant is the main

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