Living with Uncertainty: A Theme Analysis of Bath

When nothing is Sure

To live with uncertainty is not an easy task, always questioning and never gaining any form of understanding. Constantly running in a continuous loop of unsettling confusion, hoping to one-day catch up to the realization. The fact of the matter is life is quite erratic in the sense that one can never truly say they know what will come of tomorrow or the next day. But who does one blame for this confusion? Taken from Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love collection, Bath, depicts an ironic scene of an eight-year-old birthday boy, getting hit by a car and falls into a coma leaving his family in a desperate plea for normalcy. Carver’s neutralizing writing style tranquilizes the intensity of this tragedy,

For instance, as Ann Weiss orders the cake for her son’s eighth birthday the unnamed baker is only willing to say the cake will be ready Monday morning, “No pleasantries, just this small exchange, the barest information, nothing that was not necessary” (Carver 48). Although the baker does not partake in the exchange of words between Ann and himself, he uses communication by listening and shows this in making the cake correctly. In some ways, this small exchange is vital to Ann because it is the last reassurance that everything will be okay. It also important to note that Carver does not give the baker a name, which in most cases is the first thing exchanged between a client and owner. Seeing that the baker uses a lack of communication with his customers explains the agitation Ann’s husband feels over the phone, “The husband held the receiver against his ear, trying to understand. He said ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ ‘Don’t hand me that,’ the voice said,” (49). Instead of communicating that the birthday cake for Scotty was not picked up, the baker assumes the husband knows about the spaceship cake and responds vaguely. From former interactions the reader knows the baker is not big on words, but after the husband repeatedly showed his confusion the baker failed to correctly inform him. Communication deals with both listening and speaking, when one end

Notably, the husband tries to bring Ann reassurance, but is unable to convey, “The husband sat in the chair beside her. He wanted to say something else. But there was no saying what it should be. He took her hand and put in his lap,” (52). As much as the husband longs to comfort his wife in this situation, he is not able because he is also muddled by the event. Like the baker, the husband can not verbally bring Ann the clarity she needs. However, Carver describes a different form of communication in the way the husband holds his wife hand. Sometimes human touch is the best way to communicate between one another, when words seem to be impossible. As Ann’s stress grows the best offer her husband can bring is for her to go home and take a bath. Both Ann and her husband find comfort in the normalcy of their home. Moreover, as Ann goes home to calm down she receives a phone call that leaves her and the reader in a state of disarray, “‘Yes,’ she said. ‘This is Mrs. Weiss. Is it about Scotty?’ she said. ‘Scotty,’ the voice said. ‘It is about Scotty,’ the voice said. ‘It has to do with Scotty, yes,’” (56). This exchange between Ann and the voice reveals the clarity Ann has wished for throughout the story. The voice repetition of “Scotty” hints at the theme of clear communication in the sense that the call has to do with her son. During the short story, Ann is desperate for word