Understanding Raymond Carver - Book Report/Review Example

? of the of the Short stories – Theme and Symbolism Short stories are very short in length when compared to other popular forms of written literature. What makes these stories so effective is the use of literary devices to convey the theme of the story to the readers. These include symbolism, foreshadowing, characterization, imagery, allegory and motifs. Symbolism is the most common method of expressing the theme of the story effectively. By using four different short stories, the following paragraphs show how the authors make use of symbolism to make the theme of story more appealing to the reader A clean well lighted place: The major theme of the story is the idea that life is nothing. The major characters of the story suggest that there is no real purpose of life and that the people are just a tiny part in the vast sea of nothingness. According to the waiter, even the religion had no meaning and hence the people's attempt to seek solace in religion is also futile. The waiter does not recite the actual words of the prayer “Our Father who art in heaven” but replaces `father` and `heaven` with nada, the Spanish word for nothing. The other people and the old man are all driven by the same overwhelming idea of nothingness which has made their life miserable and they turn to cafe to escape the loneliness and despair. The other theme of the story is the struggle to tackle despair. Most of the characters in the story are unhappy with their lives and are looking for means to bring back some happiness. The old man has money but that does not make his life any better. We also come to know that he has tried committing suicide several times in order to escape the gloominess. The old waiter and the old man only turn to the Cafe to cure them of the despair. The cafe provides them with a routine which makes their life much better and predictable, very different from the nothingness present in their lives. The cafe is kept neat, clean and well-lighted and also the waiter makes sure that there is no music being played in the cafe. All of these make the atmosphere of the cafe extremely serene. The cafe in 'a clean well lighted place' symbolizes hope and comfort for those who are filled with hopelessness. Just as the light prevails over darkness, the well-lighted cafe also provides some comfort to the men living a troubled life. The men who come there are engulfed in different problems which have made them devoid of any positive emotions. The light drives away some of the darkness and the drunkenness provide them with some relaxation. Cathedral: The theme of the story is the difference between looking and seeing. In the story, looking is regarded as the superficial observation through physical vision but the act of seeing is something greater and comes from the heart. In the beginning, the narrator considers himself superior to Robert because he believes that Robert could not lead a normal life or make any woman happy because of his blindness. The narrator has the ability to look but he never really tries to see anything beyond of what meets the eye. Even though Robert is blind, he really ‘sees’ things rather than just looking. This can be seen from the narrator’s relationship with his wife. The narrator does not understand her wife really well and their relationship is one with little interaction. On the other hand Robert builds up a relationship with the narrator’s wife who confides in him through the audiotapes she sends to him. Robert therefore sees much more deeply and understands the narrator’s wife much more than the narrator. The narrator is able to gain a deeper understanding of his life and his own self when he draws a picture of Cathedral. This is an eye opening experience for him as he realizes seeing and understanding is far more important than only looking at things. This experience also proves to be very effective for Robert as he was able to achieve greater insight about the things around him. By listening to his own voice and followings the commands of his subconscious, Robert is able to see and understand things despite the blindness which has been bestowed upon him by fate. There are many examples of the use of symbolism in the story. The audiotapes symbolize something much more substantial than the “harmless chitchat” between Robert and the narrator’s wife. It is a representation of a deep mutual relationship between the two and a profound level of understanding which the narrator lacked in the relationship with his wife. The drawing of Cathedral also provides the narrator with an insight to look beyond the surface. The drawing of Cathedral has been used as a symbol of 'seeing' throughout the story. The Cathedral is a place where a person worships and seeks solace by meditating in a spiritual world. In a similar way the drawing allows the narrator to have a greater understanding level and he is able to get a completely new experience of seeing. A rose for Emily: The major theme of the story is the Emily’s inability to accept the change. The readers eventually see that this ultimately leads Emily to physical and emotional isolation form the world. Firstly we see Emily clinging to her father even after his death. She just could not digest the fact that her father had died and did not have any “trace of grief on her face” because according to her he was still alive. She lies about his death to the townsmen in order to avoid the burial and only when they threaten to “resort to the law and force” did she give in and allow for her father’s burial. The second example where she refuses to adhere to reality is when Homer Barron refuses to marry her. Even though she is cheated, she still loves him deeply and could not think of living without him. She poisons him with arsenic because she believes that by killing him she could claim him as her own. At the end of the story we see the dead remains of homer in a room which has been set up like a bridal suite and it is quite evident that she had been sleeping with the body ever since. She kills Barron to bind him physically but during all the years she lives with a dead body because she could not escape from the past and the past memories with Homer still infected her mind. Emily still considers herself as a woman from a very influential family and refuses to accept that she has taxes to pay even when the authorities talks to him about it. She is so engrossed in her past that she even addresses the man as “Colonel Sarotis” who had died ten years before. Symbolism also plays an important part in the story. The most prominent of these symbols is the Emily’s house which frequently comes into context. Like Emily, her house is a representation of isolation, mental illness and death. It exposes its “stubborn and coquettish decay” to the townsmen. Emily’s house appears to be personified in the story and is mostly treated as an ‘extension’ of Emily herself. The house is a subject of fascination for the people who fantasize about the inside of the edifice just like they made their own interpretations and projections of the mysterious Emily. The people do get a chance to enter the forbidden territory and are able to confirm their wild imaginations when they encounter the truth of what had happened inside the house. Like her the house is also resistant to change. The whole streets had changed but the house was never really renovated and continued to be a symbol of the past: The seventeenth century. The other use of symbolism is in the grey strand of hair which is found beside the dead body of Homer Barron. The strand of hair is the symbol of the lost love of Emily. The hair remains even after both Emily and Homer had tied. It tells the world about the horrendous and repulsive act of sleeping with the dead. The strand of hair indicates that Emily lived in her own world without caring about the opinions of others. She had her own ethics and morals and for her murder was not something repulsive and ugly if it was a means of bringing her close to her love. The discovery of the strand of this hair is foreshadowed in the novel when it describes the transformation Emily undergoes, becoming “vigorous iron-gray”. The strand of hair is the only remaining memory of Emily’s love which had been left to decay just like her lover. Miss Brill: The title itself is symbolic to Miss Brill's isolation. Miss Brill is an old lady but instead of Mrs., Miss is prefixed to her name indicating that she is not yet married despite the old age. Also her first name is never mentioned in this story because it is not needed as she has no friends or acquaintances that could use it. Throughout the story we see that she has no interaction with the society except for the children who take English classes from her. In order to drive away loneliness, Miss Brill has kept herself under a delusion that she is an important part of everyone's life. She feels that all the people who come to park are actually actors that are performing on a stage. In her opinion, “it was exactly like a play... They were all on stage”. She is oblivious to reality of her isolation and believes that she is an integral part of everyone's life. “No doubt somebody would have noticed if she hadn't been there; she was part of the performance after all". She is very enthusiastic when she sees a young couple sitting near her. She thinks them to be the ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’ of her play but her fantasies are shattered when she eavesdrop on their conversation. The bubble world in which she was living is destroyed when the couple ridicules her and she is faced with the reality that she is not at all important for anyone. The fur actually symbolizes various traits of her character. Even though Miss Brill wears it to adorn her, it has more importance than this. The fur actually represents the inner hollowness of Miss Brill's character which she has covered with her fantasies. Firstly the fur is actually the remains of a dead animal which has been preserved to appear beautiful. Just like the fur, Miss Brill appears quite well on the outside but in reality there is no liveliness in her life due to social isolation. She considers it “more of a companionable pet…” Miss Brill has no companion to spend time with and this is the reason she looks upon at the dead fur as a friend, stroking it and identifying its presence throughout the story. Miss Brill is also dead from the inside. She has no companions, no friends, and no relatives but still she is filled with enthusiasm and emotion and visits the park routinely because she feels she is an important part of visitors’ life. The deadness of the fur is further exemplified when the young girl calls it a cooked bird. By talking to a dead creature rather than a living pet, it is clear that her camaraderie with a corpse is a way for her to get rid of the loneliness. Miss Brill actually hears the sound of crying when the fur is put back. The crying maybe from the fur itself because Miss Brill has given so much importance to it that it now appears as a living object and that shunning a very old friend wells up emotions. Or the crying maybe a voice of her own subconscious because she has been spurned by the society in the same way in which she has separated herself from the old fur. Works Cited Kennedy, J. and Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing (3rd Edition). Longman, 2009. Print. Saltzman, Arthur. Understanding Raymond Carver (Understanding Contemporary American Literature) . University of South Carolina Press, 1988. Print. Read More