'Real Baby In Little Things' By Raymond Carver

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Recommended: Significance of symbolism in literature

In Raymond Carver's short story "Little Things" one can assume that the baby that's discussed is a real baby or some sort of symbolic object referred to as a baby. Based on several different elements in the short story the reference to the child can be left open to suggest that its's a shared object that both parties display emotional attachment to and neither are willing to part ways with it. Assuming that the object is a picture and not a baby it may be reference to the title "Little Things", meaning that something so little has a greater meaning regardless of the size. Based on the 2 passages when the author writes " then she notices the baby's picture on the bed and picked it up." (line 11), and in a different passage he states "She …show more content…

He actually does not give any physical descriptions of the baby except when the characters are having a physical fight over the baby. Carver writes " The baby was red-faced and screaming." (line 35). The limited description leaves the reader assuming that due to the tussle the baby was displaying signs that it was in danger. Whether it's actually a real baby or an object, when speaking of danger the mind instantly thinks of the color red. Red is the a universal color for danger. Also when Carver states that the child was screaming it could've actually been heard crying or the author could have been implying that the picture was being torn apart but using a play on words and referencing screaming in that sense.
The author also writes that the female character in the short story says "You're hurting the baby." (line 40). One could interpret that whether she's referring to a real baby or a picture she's stating that if you continue to tussle for the baby that it will be hurt or damaged in some way. However if the author is implying that the baby is real this situation can be dangerous and as adults one adult might think that the other will just give up on the tug of war out of fear of harming the child, whereas the situation may be viewed as harmless if the two people involved are fighting over a picture of a

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