Separation In Popular Mechanics By Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver’s short story, “Popular Mechanics,” is an ambiguous story about a devastating situation that is occurring within a family. The reason this story is obscure is that Carver meant for the tale to be contemporary or universal. Carver uses literary devices to input the dramatic yet vague narrative whose theme is an exaggeration but honest view on separation. Also, Carver uses plot devices and a dark setting to create a story both exciting yet disturbing, while strengthening the theme that separation hurts everyone.

This tale begins in medias res as the weather is turning and the snow is melting. From there, symbolism is used by saying “Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the

inside too.” (264). Then, the pace increases as the setting changes to a man putting clothes in a suitcase and a woman walking into the bedroom. This scene is the inciting incident because it is the transition between the introduction and the action. At this point, the readers have no idea who the man or woman is and what is happening until further information is brought upon by the rising action. These details develop in the rising action as the dialogue is just beginning, uncovering an undeniable resentment for one person and a corrupting love for another.
As the dialogue progresses, the pace increases in speed mimicking the rise in frustration between the couple.

When the author writes,“Then she noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up.” (264) he is foreshadowing that something is going to happen to the baby. Immediately following is the discriminated occasion which starts as “He looked at her and she wiped her eyes and stared at him before turning and going back to the living room.” (264). From there, the pace increased more with a change in setting from a bedroom to the living room. After that, she is standing “in the doorway of the little kitchen, holding the baby.” (264). From here, the baby is introduced, and both man and woman want the baby with them and refuse to share. For example, “I want the baby, he said.” (264). Following this is when the woman defies the man and says, “You’re not touching this baby.” (264). The unknowing reader may feel as if he/she has to choose between sides at this

point.
To further muddle the situation, Carver makes it seem as if the pace has reached its max, but this is not the condition.

When first reading this narrative, someone may think the climax occurs when “the baby had begun to cry…” (264). Although, as the pace continues to increase until it reaches its peak, the reader stumbles upon the true climax, which is rather predictable but shocking. The climax first begins when “he moved toward her.” (264). From here, the situation escalates with him crowding her into a wall and trying to break her grip on the baby. (265). At this point, the conflict has become clear to be an external conflict because of the way the parents are fighting over the baby. After that, a brief description of the particular setting is given by saying, “The kitchen window gave no light.”

(265).
The action starts to fall later in the narrative when the man began to take the baby from the woman. For example, “She felt her fingers being forced open. She felt the baby going from her. No! She screamed just as her hands came loose.” (265). From here, the unsuspecting reader may think that the fight is over and the man has taken the baby. Although, that is not the case because the woman refused to give up on her child. That persistence show’s when “She grabbed for the baby’s other arm.” (265). The resolution finally comes into sight when the man had chosen to show some resistance and not give up on his baby either. At this point, both man and woman are fighting over the baby, and the conclusion is close. Carver wrote this narrative in a way that it can be open for discussion and opinion, so the conclusion is when he writes, “In this manner, the issue was decided.” (265).
Carver’s story is full of elements of rising action, climax, and suspense. Starting with a man and woman fighting, he takes his readers on a trip of confusion and struggle that ends with a baby being torn between two worlds. Carver’s robust organization of plot and setting gives a dark and suspenseful reveal of the truth behind what happens when the separation takes its effects on both the parents and the children.