Good Things which Bring Joy to Our Lives Everyday - Essay Example

A Small, Good Thing by Raymond Carver: A Review of the Literature The ways in which human beings communicate or fail to communicate with each other has a great affect on their own, as well as others' lives. This is discussed and objectified in Raymond Carver's short story entitled "A small, good thing." By addressing the story itself, and realizing and understanding the points made by the author, we can come to a clearer and more knowledgeable point of view on the subject matter. This is what will be dissertated in the following. To brief, the story concerns the death of a child and failures of communication. An eight year old boy named Scotty is one of the main characters, and on his birthday he is hit by a car. Scotty's mother had ordered a cake from the baker's for his birthday, but once the accident occurred, the cake was of course forgotten. Scotty is unconscious after the hit, and taken to the hospital. The baker ends up phoning the family's house in the middle of the night (when he does his baking) that night, wondering why no one had come yet to pick up the cake. At the same time, no answers are being given to Scotty's family on why Scotty isn't waking up. The parents notice that when the doctor comes in to the hospital to check on Scotty, he is tanned and meticulously dressed, and they wonder how he could have a life outside of the hospital when they do not. Scotty ends up dying, "a one-in-a-million circumstance" (Carver, 1989). After a while, the mother finally figured out that it was the baker who had been making those late night calls all that time, and tracks him down, furious and enraged. Scotty's mother ends up unleashing all of the angst and anger and fury she could not release onto the doctors onto the baker, and the baker, who is stunned to hear about the child's death, begs forgiveness and offers the family warm delicious cinnamon rolls. "Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this" (Carver, 1989) and they are comforted. Carver's story truly depicts instances that can happen when communication is there, or when there is instead a lack of communication altogether, and how these affect people's lives. His story earnestly captures the excruciating anguish of parents dealing with the illness and consequential loss of a child, the sense of helplessness and isolation, and the interplay with the medical professionals - who themselves do not know what is going on, but do not let the family know this. The baker is also isolated, because he is cut off from daily human contact. We also see that at the end of the story the baker is able to meet the parents' most elemental need for nourishment and comfort by giving them the warm delicious cinnamon rolls. Communication is easily the main role played out in this particular short story. There are many different questions which can be asked of this story, the most primary ones which deal with a lack of or confused communication. What if the baker and the parents had communicated better and they had known that it was him calling late at night Perhaps then the mother would not have unleashed on him as she originally had, because she would not have felt as able to attack someone for no reason. As we see at the end of the story, the baker is sincerely apologetic and sympathetic, and so it is easily assumable that if he had have been made aware of the actual situation, not only would he not have called as he did, but he most likely would have tried to help out in some way or be of some assistance. Could the staff at the hospital have behaved or communicated differently Should the doctor have admitted his own uncertainty If the doctor had have communicated more honestly with the parents, and let them in on the uncertainty he had already set in his mind regarding Scotty's health, would that have helped It may have been the more truthful way to go, but in reality, sometimes white lies are used as a way of communicating which actually helps in some situations. If Scotty's outcome was undoubtedly negative, and the doctor knew of this, perhaps he had purposely decided not to be overly honest with the parents, in hopes of sparing their feelings and keeping their spirits high. Perhaps as a doctor he felt obliged to keep at least a glimmer of hope in the parents' eyes, and not make them feel as if there was no hope. In the actual world, we see this done quite often, although it does vary from situation to situation. Often times although the doctor may know inside that someone is not going to make it, they still may give the family that little bit of hope by telling them that everything is going to be okay, or by just not communicating with them that much altogether. In this story, Carver overtly opinionates how he thinks that communication is a major part of life, and how he believes that the ways in which human beings communicate is highly affective towards peoples' lives and well-beings. He uses the story to explain and discuss what becomes of a family when they find themselves in the midst of a tragedy, and how they deal or cope with the situation. In this story, Carver re-introduces us to several small, good things worth cherishing in this traumatic story of a young couple dealing with the slow, painful, and tragic death of their child son. Carver explores the human mistake of taking people for granted, both loved ones and strangers alike. It is overtly obvious that he believes taking people for granted regardless of who they may be or what they may mean to you is wrong, and that acting in this way can truly affect peoples' lives. The passing over of others as though they are nothing and meaningless, and generalizing their feelings while never noticing the mistakes that we have made. The techniques that Carver uses in this story are particularly subtle, such as his techniques he uses to show the arrogance of the characters, in which the first so instances take place in the opening paragraphs when the mother is inside the bakery ordering a birthday cake for her son. She had thought to herself of how the baker did not seem like a jolly man, and how he seemed uncomfortable. She then makes the worst assumption of the entire story, as excerpted from the book, she thinks, "everyone, especially someone the baker's age - a man old enough to be her father - must have children who'd gone through this special time of cakes and birthday parties." When in all actuality, the baker is portrayed as being the saddest and yet most important of all the characters. In this story, Carver intelligently and cleverly sets up a twist of an ending. We end up finding out that the baker has actually been lonely his whole life, and has never had children. We also see that the baker is not the only person in the story that the mother takes for granted. The baker also takes the parents for granted by making crazy assumptions about them, such as wondering why a mother who was being considerate enough to buy a birthday cake would not want to use her son's name. A Small, Good Thing by Raymond Carver is a strong, thought provoking, and intelligent writing with several (although some more subtle than others) important life lessons. Carver uses this story to point out the importance of proper and considerate communication, and the disadvantages of wrongful assumption, thoughtlessness, and taking others for granted. We learn many things through this story. We learn to understand that there are many small, good things which bring joy to our lives everyday. Some of these would include anything from experiences, objects, and people. In the conclusion of the story, Carver shows how something as seemingly simple as warm cinnamon rolls can be such small, good things, even in a time of such sadness and despair. Works Cited Carver, Raymond. A Small, Good Thing. Random House: Vintage (New York), 1982. Read More