A Small Good Thing Raymond Carver

Children are supposed to be the pride and joy of an adult’s life. When someone’s child is born, the love that is shared between the parents and child is unbreakable; the bond is impenetrable. Nearly everyone, one day would desire to become a parent. Moreover, when that day comes and the little one enters the world, the child is the most important thing in their parents’ lives. Parents cherish the simple precious moments with their son or daughter, which is imbedded in their memory forever. For instance, the first time one holds their baby, or the first time steps are taken, the first time the child smiles, the first time the little one utters the words mamma or dada, or says’ I love you. There are no words to express the feelings one possesses

when these treasurable occasions take place. They even remember the bad times; the first time the child falls off a bike, or the first time they come home crying since someone picked on them at school.

But, the worst of them all is finding out that your little angel is on the verge of losing his or her life. When you lose or are close to losing your child’s life that in itself, is the definition of pure torture and agony. While reading “The Bath” and “A Small Good Thing” by Raymond Carver, individuals see what parents’ go through when they are at the brink about to lose their child. According to McCaffery et al. watching characters in Caver’s stories is like spending time with people who have just had a huge fight before you get together, this is true of the characters in the two short stories; that revel emotional depths and creates hidden meanings: (p.228). These feelings are displayed between the parents’ and the baker. The link between these two stories are that Scotty gets in an accident, yet in both stories it is portrayed differently. This is supported by May, who agrees that “ Carver adds explanatory information to 'A Small, Good Thing' that adds nothing significant to the original version entitled ‘The Bath’

(48).
“The Bath”, focuses on the adults rather than their eight year old son, and the constant anonymous calls that the parents receive, when they are home. “A Small Good Thing” expresses more about how this shocking event is exaggerated by constant unidentified calls from a baker. Whom the boy’s mother had previously ordered a customized birthday cake from. The plots are exactly the same; this is a general idea of what each story is about, yet “A Small Good Thing” uses more descriptive details. Each story centers on a couple whose child was hit by a vehicle on his eighth birthday. After that, he was hospitalized and remained in a coma. The author Raymond Carver explains on why he wrote the two stories, “ Certainly there's a lot more optimism in "A Small Good Thing." In my own mind I consider them to be really two entirely different stories, not just different versions of the same story; it's hard to even look on them as coming from the same source. I went back to that one, as well as several others, because I felt there was unfinished business that needed attending to. The story hadn't been told originally, it had been messed around with, condensed and compressed in "The Bath" to highlight the qualities of menace that I wanted to emphasize? You see this with the business about the baker, the phone call, with its menacing voice on the other line, the bath, and so on. But I still felt there was unfinished business, so in the midst of writing these other stories for Cathedral I went back to "The Bath" and tried to see what aspects of it needed to be enhanced, re-drawn, re-imagined. When I was done, I was amazed because it seemed so much better. I've had people tell me that they much prefer "The Bath," which is fine, but "A Small Good Thing" seems to me to be a better story” (McCaffery, “An Interview with Raymond Carver” 66).
The two stories are very connected to each other considering their storylines are the same. The begging of each story, starts off on a Saturday afternoon with the mother (Ann) ordering a cake at the bakery shop for her birthday boy, Scotty. While expressing to the baker who was listening attentively, that she wanted a chocolate cake for her son; his favorite flavor. She surveys the binder of loose pictures of cakes and chooses the cake with the space theme. She further instructs the baker that there should be the name SCOTTY iced on it, in the color green as if it were the spacecraft’s name. After this, she gives the baker her information, such as telephone number and name. It is decided that the dessert will be ready by Monday morning, which is perfect since the party will be taking place in the afternoon of Monday. Finally Monday morning arrives and the birthday boy is walking to school accompanied by his companion, another boy. While sharing a bag of potato chips, Scotty tried to figure out what his mate wanted to give him for his birthday. Given Scotty’s lack of attention, he takes a step off the curb at an intersection and is hit by a moving vehicle. “He fell on his side with his head in the gutter and his legs out in the road. His eyes were closed, but his legs moved back and forth as if he were trying to climb over something” (Carver, “Small Thing” 1).
The first story focuses on the emotions of the characters (Mother and Father) after a tragic incident involving their eight year old son.

One theme here is lack of communication, for instance, when the mother, who is known as mom in this version of the story tells the technician “I don’t understand this,”(Carver, “Bath” 53)(Carver, “Small Thing” 5) when the technician draws blood from Scotty. As any parent, one would like to know specific information, especially when involving a child, yet the tech never explained to either party why he was taking blood. He just continued without argument or clarification. In addition, when the first phone call from the baker is received, Scotty’s father picks up the phone. The baker makes the phone call to figure out why no one has picked up the cake. It is ready and he would like the collect his sixteen dollars. Yet, the father is unaware of a cake, which leads him to hang up the phone on the baker. This lack of communication is between the mother and her husband. Scotty’s father is seated beside Ann in the infirmary, and “he wanted to say something else” (Carver, “Bath” 52)(Carver, “Small Thing” 4). But there was no saying it. Lastly, when mom spots Nelson’s parents, it is acknowledged that Nelson’s mother mistakes her as the doctor and voices, ‘Tell me now, lady” (Carver, “Bath” 55)(Carver, “Small Thing” 7). From this the viewers can tell that no clarification will be detailed since mom is not a doctor and cannot provide any

information; hence, lack of communication. Which is identified as a failure to trade information. The emotions that are expressed in the two main characters are terror. One can tell this by recalling when mom was looking out the window and her eyes meet a woman who is in a parked car, guiding away from the hospital; she pretends she is this woman. The narrator articulates that “she was afraid”(Carver, “Small Thing” 5). She is desperate to have some closure in her life, to leave the hospital, which means her son is up and doing well. Without this information, she is stuck and has all the worries of the world on her shoulder. Another example, is when Scotty’s father was driving home and when finally reaching his destination, he could not bring himself to move his legs to leave the car. This shows that the father is overwhelmed with fear and after it leads him to take a much needed bath. As stated above, mentioning Nelson’s family again, when Ann is finally ready to leave the hospital and meets up with the other parents, viewers can sense that these people are worried and afraid. It gives the reader a sense of helplessness. Lastly, what also connects to helplessness is the constant praying from the mother and father, as well as the desperate need for their child to get well soon.
“A Small Good Thing” is the same story as “The Bath” but only written two years later, with increased detailed information. In this account, the mother’s and father’s names are known: Ann and Howard Weiss’. In this interpretation of the tale, the baker constantly calls the Weiss’ residents and when Scotty gets hit by the automobile, it is revealed why the driver fled the scene. Readers can tell the baker only calls in view of the fact that, he doesn’t want to get ripped off since, he wasn’t paid so far and still has the cake in his possession. He has no knowledge of the accident involving the young boy. One can tell this from the scene where the father picks up the phone and is unaware of the cake and the baker response “Don’t hand me that” (Carver, “Bath” 49)(Carver, “Small Thing” 2). It is professed in both stories that this man is basically a loner and has time to constantly call for his money. For instance, Ann is a person who likes to make connections with others; she tries her hardest to attract the baker in small talk; however, he will not come out of his introverted ways. Now from the reoccurring calls both Ann and Howard are irritated and head down to the bakery shop, which was never revealed in the first version. In this edition of the story the theme would be compassion. By this time their son has passed and they inform the baker of the situation at hand, and now with this information, known he apologizes for the things he said earlier on the telephone. From then on, they continued talking which gave the now childless parents closure. He professes all his disappointments, frustrations, and loneliness he experienced through his life. They realized that all of them have been suffering and were able to make a connection. Owing to the sorrow the baker feels, he offers Ann and Howard cinnamon buns after the tragic incident he recently found out about. The cinnamon buns connect to compassion, because it shows a sweet gesture and reminds everyone that sweet little things in life come after a bad day.