Similar Writing Styles To Carver example essay topic

Before I analysis my own story I must first sum up what I feel Raymond Carver is trying to achieve in his stories. The simplicity of Raymond Carver's characters makes them complex. Though this is an ironic statement as irony is part of Raymond Carvers writing. The identities of his characters are simple and ordinary, but the irony of the stories makes them strange.

Most of Carver's characters are similar: lonely personalities without the ability to express themselves, struggling with the difficulties of the daily life and moving from job to job. There is a limit to what they can bear, and even an insignificant event can crush their lives. Their ordinary lives suddenly seam not so ordinary; they become strange. The settings are semi-industrial American towns that make the reader depressed and anxious. The plots of his stories are also comparable: the action begins with ordinary lives, which somehow collapse into darkness, depression and panic.

The world portrayed by the author is without religion, politics, culture or society. The reader is left with mixed feelings: despair and thankfulness. Our lives may be bad, but compared to those described in his stories they seem heavenly. However in my story I used similar writing styles to Carver, but instead of having an event which crushes the characters lives I did the opposite. In my story Sarah life is seemingly tedious and monotonous and there is much sympathy for the predicament that she is in, living alone, hardly any money, and forced to prostitution to keep her going.

I tired to convey this in the description of her flat by using words such as musty and malodorous. However her life is turned upside down by one man, she doesnt know how (neither does the reader, as I try to keep the guessing, leaving it open, very much Carvers style). However it doesnt matter how, all that is important is that Sarah has been able to draw some kind of inspiration and happiness out of another human being. Happiness is something that people very much take for granted, however Sarah has not had much of it, and when it comes along she treasures it, for it is precious as she does not know how long it is going to last. Overall I have used similar writing styles to Carver, detached and colloquial and I have used a theme, which runs through many of Carvers stories, sex.

Sex is paramount in many of Carvers stories. It plays a large part in Neighbours, and also, Theyre not your Husband. So I suppose that my story could be compared to those. However the story which I think mine is most similar to is A Small, Good, thing.

Both my story and this one have people who are struggling in life, one couple hit by the death of their son and the other by the life they are forced to live. However at the end the couple in, A small, good, thing, and Sarah in Looking for Business, are able to draw comfort, relief and most of all contentment out of another person. I think that this can act to reinforce mankind's belief in human nature and that one person can help another in fulfilling any gaps that may be missing in their lives.