This is the statue mentioned in the NCTE book

I think this would be pretty nifty to use in class.

alicia:

can you make it so that we all have access to edit the layout? i want to put a picture of the book and of carver on the blog but i think you probably are the only one with access...

connecting other texts

I like the Josh brought up Jack London. I saw the movie "Gone Baby Gone" last week, and after reading "So Much Water So Close To Home," I started brainstorming how to pair other works with each story in this collection.

I don't know if you've seen the movie, so I don't want to ruin the ending. The essence of the conclusion, though, revolves around a moral/ethical decision so important to a couple that when they realize they don't see the issue in the same way, they realize they must separate. The couple in SMWSCTH is battling the same issue. It'd be interesting to see where a discussion in the classroom would go if the story was assigned the night before and then the end of this movie was shown at the beginning of class.

Which would, of course, most likely lead to a grand discussion dealing with themes of gender and relationships--two things that repeatedly came up when we discussed the work of Carver as a group.

So I'm curious if anyone has any ideas for texts to pair with other stories that they've read in the collection...? And Alicia--I'm not sure what story/ies and/or themes we're going to work with for our paired teaching lesson, but I'm thinking anything including gender and/or relationships will work.

Also, I submit this picture to counter Josh's for the cutest pet on the blog award:

Where I'm Calling From (?)

I'm not real familiar with the works of Jack London, but as the narrator explained the short story he had read in high school, I also remembered reading "To Build a Fire." Any time one author mentions another in one's work, I immediately wonder why that author was selected. To me the short story seems to parallel the narrators life. I read it comparing his struggles with alcoholism to the lighting of the fire. His first stint in rehab probably worked for a while, but eventually the alcohol covered him, much like the snow on the extinguished fire. The big question for me is, who is he talking to in the last line?

Random things that stuck out to me(kind of stream of consciousness):
"Like the rest of us, JP is first and foremost a drunk." - this is what defines them

Narrator waiting to break into seizures after it happens to Tiny- "So every time a little flitter starts up anywhere, I draw some breath and wait to find myself on my back, looking up, somebody's fingers in my mouth." - helplessness, outside forces we cannot control?

JP's story of falling down the well- "everything about his life was different for him at the bottom of that well." - Comparison to "rock bottom" at rehab?

Narrator asking JP's wife for a kiss for good luck?

The juxtaposition of the happy bedroom scene with his wife again the realities of what his life had become?

Cathedral (Once you read the ending, it actually makes sense)

While I was reading the story "Cathedral" I was slightly confused. The story really didn't seem to have a plot. It was just a work about a guy who wasn't real happy that his wife's blind friend would be visiting them for a few days. However, much like "So Much Water Close to Home" (excluding the strange trying a dead lady to a tree story line) the ending of the story really brought everything together for me. The scene in which the blind man and the husband are drawing the picture together, the husband with his eyes closed, shows a connection between them. For the first time ever, the husband was forced to deal with his fears and insecurities about the blind man. He is now able to empathize with him. "It was like nothing else in my life up to now... I had my eyes closed. I thought I'd keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do. 'It's really something." I think this part of the story is extremely powerful because the husband and the blind man are having a shared experience, one that really seems to give the husband some real perspective on life.


This pictures doesn't really have anything to do with the story, but that's cool.

Symbolism

I bought a used copy of Where I'm Calling From and it's interesting to see what parts the previous owner had underlined. In the very first story in the compilation, there's a note in the margin asking what the fish symbolizes. Now, while the English major part of me would love to start pinning on meanings to that fish, I feel like that's the sort of question that would shut kids down. I'm just wondering how to talk about symbolism without instantly alienating students. I wouldn't use this particular story in class, so this is a more general question, but what do y'all think?

"So Much Water Close to Home"

I read another story and I'm in the process of reading another, which I will post about later (hopefully). The story I read was called "So Much Water Close to Home." Let me just say, it was strange to say the least. It was about this guy and his friend who go on a fishing trip and discover a girl floating in the water with no clothes on, dead. They had hiked to get to this spot and didn't want to leave, so they ended up staying for 3 days before returning to report the girl's death. He goes home after calling the police, has sex with his wife, and goes to bed without telling her what has happened. Then, the next day there is a story published in the paper about the men who didn't immediately report the body and they start receiving menacing phone calls.
The wife is distraught that her husband did nothing and it starts to overwhelm her. Carver goes into the details of their relationship and the wife's mental state.

I think it could be a story that we could use in a unit on minimalism... though I still think we should try to come up with a thematic unit - which we can't do until we have read more of the stories. It seems very straight forward in nature. While reading it appears to be telling what has happened, providing details, and asking for little interpretation. However, something about it left me thinking all weekend. There is a lot more to it than first appears. It got me thinking about what the wife really though happened. Or, what did really happen? It is told from the perspective of the wife, Claire, so we are receiving all of this information second-hand. We only know what Claire knows. I kept thinking about how I would feel if I were her. I think it would really intrigue students too. It is a question of morality. He writes, "Two things are certain: 1) people no longer care what happens to other people; 2) nothing makes any real difference any longer" (222). Those are really thought-provoking statements. I think students would have a lot to say about them.

Two quick things I wanted to add. I did a search on this story and I found out that there was actually a movie based on it. It is called “Jindabyne,” directed by Ray Lawrence and starring Laura Linney. I had never heard of it, but it might be an interesting way to get students into it. Or, perhaps just showing them the movie trailer as a preview and then reading the text. Also, I read a story last semester in Methods from the Flash Fiction book and I don't remember what it is called but it is about the deterioration of a marriage, which might also be a good supplment, especially since the 1st paragraph of the text ends with the sentence: "Something has come between us though he would like me to believe otherwise" (213).

The ending is very ambiguous and ends " 'I love you,' he says. He says something else and I listen and nod slowly. I feel sleepy. Then I wake up and say, 'For God's sake, Stuart, she was only a child' " (237). That really threw me off to be honest. I'm not sure if Stuart admitted to doing something or if that is how Claire takes it. Maybe if someone else reads it they can help me out (but I think that would also be a discussion starter in the classroom).