yes to minimalism

i haven't really looked at the NCTE book, but i'm glad you (and it) brought up the idea of minimalism. i actually think this could be a problematic concept for our students, especially since most writing instruction involves adding verbage, not minimizing it.

this story in particular could serve many lessons well. minimalism, foreshadowing, socioeconomic issues...

i really enjoyed reading carver; it was my first time. i was struck by the overwhelming feeling of loss. and, i admit, the story struck me to the core in a way that it might not for students unless they've experienced a great loss. all i could think about was how it felt when my son was in the hospital, before any prognosis could be given. i identified with all those strange feelings that ann and howard go through: wanting to reach out and share with strangers, spending time debating the logic (or lack thereof) of whether going home might help scotty to wake up.

whew...okay. so i agree we should focus lessons or a greater unit on minimalism. but what is the greater question guiding our unit on carver? what's the theme that would unite this story with any other texts we decide to bring into the lessons?

minimalism / "dirty" realism

The NCTE took talks a lot about the minimalist writing style that Carver is famous for. I think we really need to explore this. The book talks about the appeal of minimalist fiction and says, "precisely because it seems so slim and slight, it compels readers to become deeply involved" (17). His style allows reader to fill the the gaps and forces them to "bring to the story their own experiences" (17).

I feel that we should find a good selection of works that highlight Carver's minimalist style and explore what he was trying to accomplish in those pieces.

Additional Resources

I was trying to think of a few different way we could attack this Raymond Carver thing and I decided to look up a few articles.. So here they are:

Connections: Writing about Family
Jane P. Krebs
The English Journal, Vol. 76, No. 6. (Oct., 1987), pp. 58-60.

Two Interviews with Raymond Carver: http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath/carver.html

Lesson Plans suggested by NCTE: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/author_detail.asp?authorid=165

A short story entitled "Raymond Carver": http://smokelong.com/flash/6448.asp

An interesting article from NY Times (1989): http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DD1530F935A3575BC0A96F948260

I don't know if we would want to use any of these, but I figured I'd post them and see where it got us!

Shared Experiences

It's funny that you bring up the "Negro family" in the waiting room of the hospital. When I first read the story this was one of those things that stuck out to me as important, but, like you, couldn't really figure out why. When I went back and reread the story, I began to see a theme emerging: shared experiences. Twice in the story, Carver points out the idea that the mother sees a connection with another human being. During the opening scene in the bakery, carver write about how Ann is made to feel uncomfortable by the actions of the baker; while the baker was not curt, he was very direct. In regards to the baker's demeanor, Carver states, "She was a mother and thirty-three years old, and it seemed to her that everyone, especially someone the baker's age would have children who'd gone through the special time of cake and birthday parties. There must be that between them, she thought" (280). In this scene, Ann is making an assumption about the baker (one that is ultimately incorrect), but she is trying to identify something that they have in common; something that these two different people share.

It was also with this lens that I read the scene with the "Negro family" in the waiting room of the hospital. In this scene, Ann sees that these two families with seemingly nothing in common do have something that binds them. (As a aside, I oddly enough pictured the Ann, Howard, and Scotty as African- American until this point in the story. It was not until the "Negro family" mistook Ann for a doctor that I began to view them as white.) Through the African-American woman's response to Ann as she enters the waiting room, the reader can tell the despair and pain she and her family were in. Ann felt compelled to talk to the family, and they exchanged stories about their sons. "She [Ann] wanted to talk more with these people who were in the same kind of waiting she was in. She was afraid, and they were afraid. They had that in common" (291). In this instant, Ann seems to find some comfort in their commiseration over their shared experiences of tragedy. Ann wanted to tell these strangers more about her son and the accident, about his birthday, and that he was still unconscious. The connections that she found with these people she didn't know seemed to be a very important piece of the story.

"Abrupt" and when it is too late

So I started reading this and realized that I had already read this story - but I couldn't remember what happened. I did remember, however, that I ended up feeling sympathetic for the baker. As I read the first portion of the text in the bakery I thought about how many casual encounters we have with people each day and how, very often, they are meaningless to us. Is this contact meaningless to the other party? I think that we often assume it is, but perhaps we are mistaken. It appeared to Ann that the baker was looking to move her along and get back to work; he made it clear he did not want to engage in a conversation with her. As Ann thought about who he was or what he did in his life it seemed like she felt as though she was superior to this man. She considers if "he'd ever done anything else with his life besides be a baker" (377). Immediately following that thought she thinks of all she has done in her life.

I was intrigued by the baker throughout my reading, probably because I knew he played a more important role later in the story. Because of this I found myself juxtaposing the baker to every other character in the story. Ann used the word "abrupt" to describe the baker's dismissal of her. That description was constant in many of the characters in the text, especially those that were male. The man who hit Scotty was abrupt in his decision to leave the scene of the accident. He seemed like he had so many other things to do that he couldn't be bothered with this child, even though his actions were life-altering - actually like ending. Dr. Francis was continually short and dismissive with Ann and Howard. Perhaps if he had paid closer attention to Scotty they would have been able to see the real situation.

Because this is how I was thinking I kept finding similarities and differences between these two characters. The baker had "coarse features" while Dr. Francis was described as "handsome." The baker was listening to country music; Dr. Francis looked like "he had just come from a concert." They were anxiously waiting for Dr. Francis' diagnosis and opinion, but the baker was so unmemorable that he wasn't recognized until after days of contact. The baker was known as "the baker," while Dr. Francis was immediately given a name. Ultimately, however, Dr. Francis was more dismissive and escorted the grieving parents to the hospital's exit so that he could get back to work. The baker stopped doing his work, was sorrowful and brutally honest. He gave all that he could give to Ann and Howard: compassion and cinnamon buns. "A Small, Good Thing."

What do you think about the "Negro family" in the waiting room? That entire scene was one I had a hard time wrapping my mind around. It seemed a bit out of place for me, but I feel like I am on the verge of having some great epiphany. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction!