Raymond Carvers Neighbors Essay - 462 Words

In Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Neighbors† the speaker’s attention seems to be more directed on the Bill and Arlene Miller. The Millers are a married couple who were once a happy couple but as the years went along they felt grew apart. It seems as though they are too busy comparing their lives to the Harriet and Jim Stone, which are their neighbors, that they don’t have time to fix their marriage. The Stones do what married people should do and that’s â€Å"go out for dinner, or entertaining at home, or traveling about the country somewhere†¦(70).† The Millers are given the responsibility of looking after the Stones apartment for ten days, while they are on a pleasure trip. During these ten days they have to feed their Kitty, and water the plants.†¦show more content†¦The first occasion he found a container of pills in the medicine chest labeling â€Å"-Harriet Stone. One each day as directed (70).† He took it and put it in his pocket. When I read that I asked myself, ‘why would he need a woman’s prescription?’ Then he drank some liquor and went across the hall to his wife. He played with her breast and asked her to come to bed. For some reason Bill started to act differently ever since he went to the Stone’s apartment. The longer he stayed in the apartment the more his sex drive would go up. He would come home early from work or even not go. â€Å"In the morning he had Arlene call in for him (71).† The story didn’t really focus on what his wife would do when she went to the Stones apartment but she herself liked going in there. Som ething unusual happened when Bill went to the Stones apartment one day. â€Å"He rummaged through the top drawers until he found a pair of panties and a brassiere. He stepped in the panties and fastened the brassiere, then look through the closet for an outfit(72).† At the end of the story Arlene stated â€Å"I just remembered. I really and truly forgot to do what I went over there to do. I didn’t feed the cat of do any watering (73).† This gives out that she was doing something else in the apartment other than what she should be doing. Come to find out she was looking at some mystery pictures, but Bill couldn’t see the pictures cause she locked the keys in the apartment. Hence, asShow MoreRelatedCritical Analysis of Raymond Carvers Neighbors757 Words   |  4 PagesAll We Really Need in Life is Each Other Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Neighbors† is a moral based story. In the beginning of their marriage Bill and Arlene were very content with one another’s companionship, but now they live in envy of their neighbors, Harriet and Jim. It seemed to the Millers that the Stones live a much more fulfilling life. When Harriet and Jim are away on business/vacation trip they would entrust Bill and Arlene to feed Kitty, water the plants, and look after their apartment. The Miller’sRead More Themes in Raymond Carvers Literature Essay743 Words   |  3 PagesThemes in Raymond Carvers Literature In Short Cuts, by Raymond Carver, characters experience trials and problems in their lives, whether extreme such as in A Small, Good Thing and Lemonade or nominal such as in Vitamins. They all seem to depict these struggles as uphill battles which the characters cannot and mostly do not overcome. The characters throughout Carvers Short Cuts struggle through their lives in private desperation, often to ultimately realize that they are bound toRead MoreThe Most Important American Fiction Writer1661 Words   |  7 PagesRaymond Carver has been called â€Å"the most important American fiction writer in the second half of the twentieth century† and â€Å"the most influential American short story writer since Ernest Hemingway† (Kleepe vii). He was very successful despite his many difficult life experiences. Carver grew up during a very difficult time in America. However, early on, Carver and his wife believed their hard work would eventually pay off despite the challenges in the world around them. They thought it would fix almostRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book What We Talk About When We Think About Love `` And Englander s `` Essay1244 Words   |  5 Pagesstories are very similar to one another. Carver’s â€Å"What We Talk About When We Talk About Love† and Englander’s â€Å"What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank† are no exception to this. Both share a common element, which is morality. Both stories focus on the morality of their respective characters. However, Englander’s story expands on this more than Carver’s story. By this we mean that Englander’s story has a much higher level of morality in it rather than Carver’s tale because he expands on everythingRead MoreRaymond Carver Neighbors Essay1975 Words   |  8 PagesNeighbors Neighbors is a short story written by Raymond Carver in 1988. It is from the collection of short stories Short cuts. The short story is in brief about the married couple Bill and Arlene Miller, who lives opposite the married couple Harriet and Jim stone. Bill and Arlene constantly see themselves in the light of the Stones happy life. Bill is a bookkeeper and Arlene is a secretary, while Jim is a salesman for a machine-parts firm. In the story the Stones are going on a business tripRead More Robert Altmans Film Adaptation of Raymond Carvers Short Cuts4363 Words   |  18 PagesRobert Altmans Film Adaptation of Raymond Carvers Short Cuts The characters in Robert Altmans film adaptation of the Raymond Carver anthology Short Cuts think theyre islands entire of themselves. They suspect their lives and their worlds of isolation, alienation, separation, in multiple senses of the words. They fail to see, or perhaps purposely ignore, connections between themselves and those around them, between their actions and the ramifications of those actions. And while a typicalRead MoreThe Idea, By Raymond Carver And The Death Of Justina1225 Words   |  5 PagesIn both postmodernism short stories, â€Å"The Idea,† by Raymond Carver and â€Å"The Death of Justina,† by John Cheever, the authors critique middle-class and suburban values. In the 1950’s-1960’s the United States and the Soviet Union were at international conflict, which caused the Pro-American/anti-communist defense line in America. In order not to get hunted down by the FBI the family units needed to project that they were â€Å"good guysâ⠂¬  by living in a suburban community with the traditional roles of theRead MoreIt’S Interesting How Everyone Has A Differing And Personal1659 Words   |  7 Pagesyour dog. Why is this question so hard to answer? I perceive love in a positive way but on the other hand Raymond perceives love differently. That’s okay because we all have different definitions. Throughout Raymond Carvers short stories he uses disconnection, distrust, and doubt to portray the idea that bad relationships and negative emotions can lead to misconceptions about love. In Carver’s story, â€Å"What We Talk about When We Talk about Love† he highlights the difficulties that can come with tryingRead MoreLove in Literature2486 Words   |  10 Pagesthe forms of love used in literature. In Simon May’s â€Å"Love: A History†, May mentions agape love, defining it, stating that â€Å"This love is compassionate and giving: the love of neighbor shown by the Good Samaritan† (May pg.177). The use of agape love as a catalyst for positive character development is evident in Raymond Carver’s â€Å"Cathedral†. The narrator of the story, who is ignorant and closed–minded, encounters a blind man whose name is Robert. Robert recognizes the narrators closed-mindedness, but