Short Stories, Like Houses by Raymond Carver - Article Example

4th March Assignment “Short stories, like houses – or cars for that matter - should be built to last. They should also be pleasing, if notbeautiful, to look at, and everything inside them should work.” Raymond Carver A short story is something that lasts for an ephemeral span of time, in the hands of the reader, and helps him dive into a different world altogether for a few moments. It consists of all the elements of a well written story, (most of the good ones do) along with a sharp edge, making the reader think hard and fast. Most short stories are written in a very abrupt manner, making it easy for ambiguity by the time the last page has been turned. Most readers enjoy and prefer reading short stories especially if they are short of time or are looking for a quick read to amuse themselves. According to Carver, a short story has been described as something very beautiful to look at, and something that should last, like a house or a car. By this he means to say that just like a family gets attached to a home or a car over the years, a reader in a similar manner should feel that sort of a longing and attachment to a short story by merely reading it once. A short story should be written in a manner that one can always go back to it and re read it in order to interpret it differently. Some excellently written short stories have the ability to make the reader feel different emotions every time he turns the pages and goes through it again. It provides a sense of illumination for a very transient space in time, while impacting the mind of the reader for a long time to come in the future. Raymond Carver’s Cathedral has been included as a part of Best American Short Stories published in 1982 as one of his finest pieces of work written with simplicity and elegance. In the story, the narrator understands that it is possible to change his life and his ways by spending time with the blind man Robert. “I stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV. How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else.” (Carver, Raymond) As the two sit down to draw the image of a cathedral, he closes his eyes and gets in sync with the emotions of the blind man. He then comes to the conclusion that the possibility of being someone else, with a broader horizon is in the cards for him. The narrator begins to see the difference between seeing something and understanding it by putting himself in the shoes of the blind man. The short story has been written rather enigmatically with a sort of power that changes the way the reader looks at life. It is thus regarded as one of the most well written stories of all time. Carver writes, “And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved.” (Carver, Raymond) Through a simple thought process, the narrator questions the ability of other individuals to live their lives without knowing how wanted and desired they are by others and is appalled at how easy it is to live so minimally, without expectation. Every short story should have the ability to change the way a person thinks, and through a simple incident of meeting Robert, the narrator begins to feel inspired to take leaps of faith in life, thereby inspiring the reader. This story thus possesses the element of surprise coupled with a simple elegance which any reader would be happy to go back to from time to time. Jhumpa Lahiri’s Hell-Heaven has appealed to a wide class of people, again because of the simplicity with which the story line has been portrayed to the reader. It is set against the backdrop of a middle class Bengali family and the narrator spends time contemplating the relationship that her mother shares with a friend of their parents’. The story is focused mainly on the characters, mainly Aparna and the prose held a great amount of emotion that plays well with the readers. “I remember vividly the sound of his exuberant laughter and the sight of his lanky body slouched or sprawled on the dull, mismatched furniture that had come with our apartment. He had a striking face, with a high forehead and a thick mustache, and overgrown, untamed hair that my mother said made him look like the American hippies who were everywhere in those days.” (Lahiri, Jhumpa) Lahiri’s excellent use of description provides for very light reading – something the reader would enjoy every now and then. Moreover, the manner in which she has talked about her memory of someone she enjoyed being in the presence of helps the reader in identifying scenarios in his own life. “My mother agreed, and then she went back into the house. By the time my father and I came home in the early evening, she was in the kitchen boiling rice for our dinner, as if it were any other day. My mother told Deborah none of this. It was to me that she confessed, after my own heart was broken by a man I’d hoped to marry.” (Lahiri, Jhumpa) Lahiri has made use of some of the most simple and commonplace emotions of human life and attributed the same within her short story. What makes her story so brilliant is the way in which familial feelings – something that is a part of almost any individual’s life – have been portrayed. In conclusion, the above two short stories talked about possess the mark of well written literature and in their own unexpected and rapid forms, the stories have depicted the lives of characters so beautifully, helping the reader to correlate and want to be a part of the story. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. N.p.: Knopf, 1983. Print. Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth: Stories. New York: Knopf, 2008. Print. Read More