How does Carver create precision of reality with his characters, focusing on Fires?
When looking at the works of Raymond Carver, one can feel a sense of autobiography, that the characters in his stories are struggling against the same circumstances that Carver himself once struggled through. How true this is, is marginal to say the least, for Carver tells us in Fires that anything from a phone call to living in a seedy apartment in Jerusalem for four months is cause to influence his writing.
But taking this as subject of influence for his stories, one must then look at his characters, who at times more than closely resemble a certain element of Carver himself in a certain situation that Carver has since been in. The essence of the characters make Carvers stories all the more realistic, as you can sense the trials and tribulations that these people have gone through, and are being faced with as we read each page further. In looking at Carvers Fires, a collaborations of essays, poems, and stories, we can see the realism of each character, and in doing so, reflect them upon Carver for some likeness. But is this truly where the characters come from? Are they just a reflection of Carver and his life?
In private desperation, Raymond Carvers characters struggle through their lives, knowing, with occasional clarity, that the “good life'; they had once hoped would be achieved through hard work, will not come about. In many ways, Carvers life was the model for all of his characters. Married to Maryann Burke at nineteen, and having two children in the space of seventeen months, the Carvers life was decided for years to come. Early on Carver felt, along with his wife, that hard work would take care of nearly everything.
We had great dreams, my wife and I. We thought we could bow our necks, work very hard, and do all that we set our hearts to do. But we were mistaken. (Fires, p. 31)
Somewhere in the middle of this life of dead end jobs and child raising, he realised, very much like one of his characters, that things would not change. He recounts one of the strongest of these moments in his essay on writing influences, Fires. He was at the laundromat washing clothes and, at this point in the essay, waiting for a dryer:
When and if one of the dryers ever stopped, I planned to rush over to it with my shopping basket of damp clothes. Understand, IR...
... middle of paper ...
...it feels like, by virtue of having lived it myself for so long,'; he said. “Half my family is still living like this. They still don’t know how they are going to make it through the next month or two';. (Gentry, p.138)
The precision found in Carver’s writing comes from Carver himself, his experiences, his rises, and his downfalls. Carver’s stories changed with his life, and his characters reflect this. We can say a certain percentage of his stories dealt with the working poor, or alcoholics out of work, or adulterers. Or we can say that overall he dealt with people who had no hope, or little hope. He once said, “It’s strange. You never start out life with the intention of becoming a bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar.'; (Gentry, p.38) At one time Carver was all of these. And so were his characters.
Bibliography
Carver, R (1997)
Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories
The Harvill Press: London
Gentry, M.B., Stull, W.L., eds.(1990)
Conversations with Raymond Carver
University Press of Mississippi: Jackson
Nesset, K (1995)
The Stories of Raymond Carver-A Critical Study
Ohio University Press: Athens
Pp.1-8
The central ideas of: Racial tensions, racial identity, and systemic oppression, all assist in revealing the author’s purpose. As Malcolm changes throughout the story, his wordhoard and usage of various terms changes as well as the structure of sentences. From half-sentences to long blocks of text, Malcolm’s status also affected the style and structure of his writing; If Malcolm was in a party, the structure would consist of small half sentences as opposed to if Malcolm was telling scenery of a bar in which he would use long descriptive sentences of the setting. Throughout all the chapters, the author was capable of placing vivid images and allowing the reader to experience all the problems and threats Malcolm had to deal
Nesset, Kirk. "Insularity and Self-Enlargement in Raymond Carver's 'Cathedral.'" Essays in Literature. March 22, 1994: 116.
Narrative attitude has a large impact on the way a novel reads. It is what makes the reader feel for the narrator, connect to the story, and experience the words on the page in a moving and profound way. However, in James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, the narrator appears to not be emotional in order to focus the reader’s attention on the real purpose of the novel.
... and well-known African Americans. The imagery he uses is a painting of his experiences, and his thoughts and feelings of those experiences. His use of hyperboles is a connection of dot from his experiences and his emotions. Now that we have seen Cleaver’s literary design, we now understand how his experiences affect his life. We also understand the messages that the other authors mentioned in this essay are trying to send. Like Cleaver, they use certain literary methods for certain reasons, whether their literary methods are to express their feelings or to teach us things we may have not known before. Although the other author’s appear to have different reasons for using certain literary methods than those reasons of Cleaver’s, Like Cleaver, their aim is to get a point through to us; therefore, they too, create a successful literary design.
It should be noted that gaining an identity in autobiographical writing is crucial “because literacy becomes a way of creating an identity where before there was none in the public discourse” (Finkelman, vol.2, 190). Although the identities of William and Ellen Craft may have been revealed partially before their narrative, their own words and experience have a much greater impact on the reader than if told by a secondary source.
Throughout the majority of the story Carver uses a variety of devices to portray the narrator negatively. One reason is that he lacks compassion. At the beginning of the story he says, "I wasn?t enthusiastic about his [the blind man?s] visit. He [the blind man] was no one I knew. And his [the blind man] being blind bothered me."
Ernest’s early years built him into a strong character. It sculpted him to handle harsh or extreme situations. Ernest was forced to do labor on a plantation, ironically, Ernest’s ancestors were raised on the same plantation that he was. Ernest’s Parents were separated when he was young. He was part of the fifth generation of his family to be raised there. He was lifted by his impaired aunt. At the young age of nine he began picking cotton, and he was a student for approximately five to six months out of the year. (“ Twentieth century American literature”).
There is a point in life when readers decide that “many of his poems and stories are confessions of his sins” (Delaney) because of a point made that “he drank because he felt guilty” (Delaney). Carver was guilty because of his alcoholism and because he would rather write to provide for his family. The ironic thing about Carver becoming a writer is the fact that “he himself was extremely ignorant about literature” (Delaney). People might wonder why someone who was not good at literature would become a writer, let alone a professor at a university. Carver seemed to have a growing issue with his alcoholism.
In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, the author, Alex Haley, makes racism and discrimination prevalent throughout the text. Malcolm’s life is being uncovered firsthand as people witness the tribulations he suffers through. As the story unfolds, the reader witnesses the change in Malcolm’s character and what experiences brought him that point. The text would not be as powerful without several factors. Although the story is compelling, without true richness and depth brought on by the author’s style, structure, and content, the story would not be as remarkable as it is.
Through the use of concrete language, Fredrick Douglass, relates his readers to the life of a slave while at the same time explaining how one could never understand unless he experiences the hardships of slavery on his own. Fredrick Douglass has such a talent at pulling his readers into the writing and making them envision what is happening, that anyone could fall in love with his writing. An example can be found in,” There I was in the midst of thousands, and yet a perfect stranger…”
Throughout this entire book I couldn’t help but think of my own life, my family, my world. Abram describes his house in the absences o...
Carver's short stories can have so many aspects due to the minimalism he has uses during his stories that the only limit is our own fantasy and the few guide lines we are given in the stories.
After reading Sonny’s Blues and Cathedral by James Baldwin and Raymond Carver respectively, it is easy to distinguish similarities and differences when comparing them to the other stories previously read. We discussed in class the structures, settings, forms and themes of these stories, in which we often found imprisonment was a recurring topic. On the contrary, the two stories assigned for Thursday differ from the others in some aspects like the narrator, style and some themes.
To conclude with, William Faulkner was an author that used uncommon technique in his works. The complexity of his themes make readers feel more engaged into thinking deeper and feel the beautiful Southern setting Faulkner describes ( William Faulkner: PBS). Faulkner based his stories on his childhood experiences and the experience of being an adult in the South (Unger, 67). Faulkner represents the Southern man in his works and the beautiful scenery of the South. William Faulkner wrote about his experiences of his childhood, his time in the war, adulthood, and Southern society (William Faulkner: Biography). Faulkner’s journey to find his passion in writing, the novels he created that would make him stand out from other authors, and the legacy he had on readers is what made William Faulkner a significant author in American history.
Life is a series of frequent changes. At some point in life one will be tossed into circumstances that urges one to make decisive life choices and adjust particular behavior for the aim of becoming a better form of oneself. Despite one’s recognition that modifications have to be done, the process of changing is difficult. Thus, some individuals are scared to change and refuse to do so. In “ A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner uses literary tools such as the setting, symbolisms and the conflicts to develop his theme that fixation of the past will wound one’s present. Falkner exemplified that changes are inevitable and refusal to accept the progression will only result in decadence that eventually will induce negative effects in one’s life.