A Small, Good Thing By Raymond Carver - 1426 Words

The short story â€Å"A Small, Good Thing† by Raymond Carver illustrates how quickly life can change. Scotty, the son of Howard and Ann Weiss, is struck by a car while walking to school on the morning of his birthday. After passing away a few days later in the hospital, grief-stricken Howard and Ann return home and receive continuous, strange calls from the baker of Scotty’s birthday cake. They confront the baker, who initially came off as cold and emotionless, and develop a mutual respect for each other. The author uses third person omniscient point of view to tell this fictional story, while also incorporating realistic everyday occurrences. The literature examines many relevant parts of life, but the three major concepts in this short story are vulnerability, communication, and angels. Vulnerability is a major concept incorporated into the short story. In the beginning of the story, Scotty shows vulnerability when he is hit by the car and experiences a random act of violence. The man who hit him was responsible for the violence against a helpless child, but did not stop to see if Scotty was injured, which was an abuse of his vulnerability. Another instance when one’s vulnerability was abused was seen when Ann encountered Franklin’s family in the hospital. Franklin had been stabbed, which was an act of violence that played on his inability to protect himself. As Franklin undergoes surgery in an attempt to save his life, Ann is able to sympathize and share stories with theShow MoreRelatedA Small Good Thing By Raymond Carver1513 Words   |  7 PagesThe short story of A Small Good Thing by Raymond Carver describes the story of a family who loses their son due to a hit and run accident. The parents suffer through the loss and have their suspicions about who killed their son because of multiple phone calls from the local baker who made their son’s birthday cake. The ending has an unexpected twist when the baker and the parents realize they can connect with each other. This heart-wrenching story touches on three important themes; these three themesRead MoreEssay on A Small, Good Thing, by Raymond Carver1956 Words   |  8 PagesThe short story, A Small, Good Thing by Raymond Carver tells of two American parents dealing with their sons hospitalization and death as the result of a hit-and-run car accident. The insensitive actions of their local baker add to their anger and confusion, yet by the end of the story, leave them with a sense of optimism and strength. With such content, Carver runs the risk of coming across as sentimental; however, this is not the case, and the anguish of the parents and their shock at the situationRead MoreA Small Good Thing By Raymond Carver And The Birthmark Essay1877 Words   |  8 PagesA Small Birthmark with Vampiric Communion In the stories â€Å"A Small Good Thing† by Raymond Carver and â€Å"The Birthmark† by Nathaniel Hawthorne there are obvious differences between the two tales. While â€Å"A Small Good Thing† has to do with a family dealing with the injury and then loss of their â€Å"The Birthmark† is a scientific quest to remove a birthmark. The analysis of these two stories show both similarities as well as the differences between the main themes of Vampirism, Communion. These two main themesRead MoreRaymond Carver s A Small, Good Thing1816 Words   |  8 PagesIn Raymond Carver’s A Small, Good Thing, we are presented with several good things worth cherishing in this heartbreaking story of a young couple dealing with the tragic death of their only child. The death of the child resulting from a hit-and-run car accident. Carver explains to the reader how undeniably human it is to take our love ones for granted. In the beginning the selfish actions of the baker co ntributed to the couple’s anger and confusion. However, by the end of the story they are leftRead MoreThe Lives and Works of Raymond Carver1692 Words   |  7 PagesWith a unique and brilliant style of writing, Raymond Carver has left a lasting and outstanding impact on the history of short stories. Even though Raymond Carver left a long impact, his life was of the opposite. Like Raymond Carver’s famous award winning stories, his life was short. Raymond Carver was born on May 25th, 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mill town on the Columbia River. Carver grew up in Yakima, Washington. Carver had three members to his small family, his mother, his father, and brotherRead MoreAnalysis Of Raymond Carver s The Cathedral 863 Words   |  4 Pages One of the Raymond Carver story where we can find a lot of religion symbols; it is â€Å"Cathedral.† The story develops an ironic situation in which a blind man teaches a sighted man to truly â€Å"see† for the fi rst time. Near the end of the story, Carver has these two characters work together on a drawing of a cathedral, which serves as the symbolic heart of the story. The cathedral represents true sight, the ability to see beyond the surface to the true meaning that lies within. The narrator’s drawingRead MoreAn Analysis Of Cathedral By Raymond Carver1441 Words   |  6 Pages Cathedral Research Paper The short story â€Å"Cathedral†, by Raymond Carver, is a thought provoking piece that focuses on the transition a man goes through to see the world with his soul. The story gives hope that people can change if given the chance to be better people. Over the course of the story, Carver uses both diction and description to explore themes in religion and morality. â€Å"Cathedral† depicts a husband and a wife as they prepare and entertain a friend of the wife. The husband, the narratorRead MoreThemes Of A Small, Good Thing Essay968 Words   |  4 PagesThemes in ‘A Small, Good Thing’ Life consists of persistence and lethargy; patience and tragedy; felicity and suffering; experiences and failures; ups and downs; and accepting the good with the bad and the bad along with the good. These details create ‘slices of life’ moments in our lives. As we read Raymond Carver’s short stories, we see these beautiful moments come to pass. One of the short stories that presented this was ‘A Small, Good Thing’, where Carver demonstrates occurring themes of lonelinessRead MoreCathedral (by Raymond Carver)1131 Words   |  5 PagesCathedral: A Lesson for the Ages Raymond Carver s short story, Cathedral, portrays a story in which many in today s society can relate. We are introduced from the first sentence of the story to a man that seems to be perturbed and agitated. As readers, we are initially unsure to the reasoning s behind the man s discomfort. The man, who seems to be a direct portrayal of Raymond Carver himself, shows his ignorance by stereotyping a blind man by the name of Robert, who has come to stay withRead MoreCathedral By Raymond Carver Analysis1631 Words   |  7 Pages Cathedral is a short story written by American writer and poet Raymond Carver. (2017) The story was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1981 and appeared in The Americas Best Short Stories in 1982. (2012) In the short story cathedral, the narrator’s wife’s blind friend is coming to visit. The narrator isn’t thrilled about his wife’s blind friend coming to visit nor is he happy that the man is blind. Later in the evening the narrator experiences a life changing realization of the true meaning