In Raymond Carver’s “Neighbors” the speaker’s attention seems to be more directed on the Bill and Arlene Miller. The Millers are a married couple who were once a happy couple but as the years went along they felt grew apart. It seems as though they are too busy comparing their lives to the Harriet and Jim Stone, which are their neighbors, that they don’t have time to fix their marriage. The Stones do what married people should do and that’s “go out for dinner, or entertaining at home, or traveling about the country somewhere…(70).” The Millers are given the responsibility of looking after the
Stones apartment for ten days, while they are on a pleasure trip. During these ten days they have to feed their Kitty, and water the plants. Because of this particular event the Millers, who se...
Mr. George Washington Carver, the name can be found in textbooks across the world, but the only knowledge about Mr. Carver that all really know is that he was known as the Peanut man. Can a man really gain notoriety by being associated with the peanut? Possibly, but George Washington Carver did so much more than just create the modern-day version of peanut butter. The man created an industry out of a peanut, literally. He not only created a new niche for farmers, but he helped revolutionize agriculture. How does a man (botanist, chemist, and inventor) explain a small peanut and agriculture to others? Well, Carver started with humble beginnings and a had deep admiration for plants and nature as he grew. Mr. Carver’s love for nature
After a decade of not seeing his mother and brother, Howard returns to his hometown in Mississippi. It is evident how thrilled he is. As the train approaches town, he begins “to feel curious little movements of the heart, like a lover as he nears his sweetheart” (par. 3). He expects this visit to be a marvelous and welcoming homecoming. His career and travel have kept his schedule extremely full, causing him to previously postpone this trip to visit his family. Although he does not immediately recognize his behavior in the past ten years as neglectful, there are many factors that make him aware of it. For instance, Mrs. McLane, Howard’s mother, has aged tremendously since he last saw her. She has “grown unable to write” (par. 72). Her declining health condition is an indicator of Howard’s inattentiveness to his family; he has not been present to see her become ill. His neglect strikes him harder when he sees “a gray –haired woman” that showed “sorrow, resignation, and a sort of dumb despair in her attitude” (par. 91). Clearly, she is growing old, and Howard feels guilty for not attending her needs for such a long time period: “his throat [aches] with remorse and pity” (par. 439). He has been too occupied with his “excited and pleasurable life” that he has “neglected her” (par. 92). Another indication of Howard’s neglect is the fact that his family no longer owns the farm and house where he grew up. They now reside in a poorly conditioned home:
Raymond Carver utilizes his character of the husband, who is also the narrator, in his short story "Cathedral." From the beginning of the story the narrator has a negative personality. He lacks compassion, has a narrow mind, is detached emotionally from others, and is jealous of his wife's friendship with a blind man named Robert. He never connects with anyone emotionally until the end of this story.
Porter, Katherine Anne. “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Literature Portfolio. Eds. Desmet, Christy, D. Alexis Hart, and Deborah Church Miller. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 204-211. Print.
The husband in Raymond Carvers “Cathedral” wasn’t enthusiastic about his wife’s old friend, whom was a blind man coming over to spend the night with them. His wife had kept in touch with the blind man since she worked for him in Seattle years ago. He didn’t know the blind man; he only heard tapes and stories about him. The man being blind bothered him, “My idea of blindness came from the movies. In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to. (Carver 137)” The husband doesn’t suspect his ideas of blind people to be anything else. The husband is already judging what the blind man will be like without even getting to actually know him. It seems he has judged too soon as his ideas of the blind man change and he gets a better understanding of not only the blind man, but his self as well.
... in her community. According to Giordano, the Westcotts’ "lives, on the large scale of events, were just another example of ordinary life in just another apartment in just another city" (58).
Mr. Anderson grew up on a farm near a plantation. He had twelve siblings but sadly one died at birth. While growing up he stayed with him mom, dad, seven siblings and one niece. During his childhood he played with friends, worked, and went school daily. He loved his childhood and refers to them as the “good ole days.” (Clucky) His fondest memory were of him playing baseball with his brothers and sisters. Mr. Anderson’s first unofficial job was to play with the child of a plantation owner that stayed close to them earning him $3.80 per hour. When he came of age he began work at Marty’s, changed to Reynolds Whittington soon after, and continued to work there, where he met his wife. They were then married in 1985 10 years later he would begin working at Fruit of the Loom after welcoming his two children, born in 1991 and 1992. Mr. Anderson claims that the woman’s role has changed tremendously over his lifetime. “They’re more independent now. Starting their own jobs and making their own money,” says Clucky, “it’s really admirable to see how far they’ve come.” “Back in the day when they were told to take care of the kids, the husband, and their house.” His views on how men’s role changed were completely the opposite. Clucky Anderson stated “Men have became lazy, they’re not looking for a wife anymore… they’re looking for a mother to take care of all their needs and work too.” He then went
In the novel, the women look at their individual housing situations as a giant disappointment. To explain, even though Kyra and Delaney housing situation brings both families closer together and they each have their own separate house, there is still that need to have an even bigger and a much better living condition for their families. Although, Kyra and Delaney both agree with their significant others dissatisfaction with the current situation that they find themselves in. I also believe that yet again the significant of this goes back to the American Dream and how we as Americans strive to make better in our life.
This passage implies that George and Lennie, the fictional characters of Steinbeck's novel, lived in relative comfort as they worked the farm. If one compares this to a similar passage from The Harvest Gypsies:
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is a work of “sentimental fiction” because it connects all the people living in the small town of Grover’s Corners. In a small town like Grover’s Corners everybody knows each other within the town, so there is a deeper connection of companionship, friendship, and love within the town. The residents of Grover’s Corners constantly take time out of their days to connect with each other, whether through idle chat with the milkman or small talk with a neighbor. So when love and marriage or death happens in the town, it will affect the majority Grover’s Corners residents. The most prominent interpersonal relationship in the play is a romance—the courtship and marriage of George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Wilder suggests that
It was a sunny morning of June 27th. People meet, greet, and talk about ordinary subjects such as household, “plating and rain, tractors and taxes” (Jackson, 1), tell jokes, kids play around within each other, Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Delacroix were gossiping; Bobby Martin, Harry Jones and Dickie Delacroix were collecting stones to fill their pockets. Nothing eccentric when talking about the daily routine of the town...
Harriet Martineau, in her story “Cousin Marshall,” addressed the separate spheres of work and responsibility between a husband and wife in the figures of the Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Marshall. Martineau intended the story to act as a lesson to her readers and this is reflected in the dualistic portrayal of the two women. Cousin Marshall is portrayed as the height of womanly responsibility and suffering while Mrs. Bell is portrayed as a blight on society.
The novella focuses on the dream shared by George and Lennie, which emphasizes upon their independence of other people other than each other. In this sense, they appear to be much more capable of fulfilling their American Dream than others. The reception to George and Lennie’s kinship further draws attention to the difference between the partners and the rest of the workforce, putting attention upon their desolated lifestyles and the social (or more appropriately, antisocial) lifestyles of the men of the day (Goldhurst 52). Steinbeck reinforces this idea through repetitive dialogue between the two characters, which stresses upon their relationship: “But not us! An’ why? Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after
While reading short stories, two stood out: Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s Cathedral. The themes in both stories are powerful and convey strong messages that really pose existential thoughts. Not only is each story’s theme attention grabbing, but so is the common and reoccurring use of symbolism throughout the stories. They did not just use the Element of Fiction symbolism, but even used one common symbol. Ernest Hemingway’s story Hills Like White Elephants and Raymond Carver’s story Cathedral each contain existential and similar themes such as talking versus communicating and looking versus seeing, as well as demonstrating creative and comparable symbolism throughout.
As soon as the county attorney, the sheriff, his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Hale walk into the Wrights house there is a clear division of power between the men and the women. The men walked in with harsh faces ready to get the job done, while the women plan on just sitting in the kitchen by the fire so that they can stay warm. The men surpass the kitchen on the way to the bedroom which is where Mr. Hale found Mr. Wrights dead body. The sheriff even made a comment saying: “Nothing here but kitchen things” (1414). While he was disrespectfully kicking around pots and pans and making comments criticizing Mrs. Wrights housekeeping sills. These remarks set the stage for the rest of the story and introduce to the readers the roles that women in society at this time were supposed to live by.