An Analysis of Night School by Raymond Carver
Characterization
In the story 'Night School' by Raymond Carver, there are a total of three main characters, namely the protagonist and the two women.
The story is told using the first person narrative. The protagonist, who is also the narrator, is a divorcee. This is evident in the first sentence of the story, "My marriage had just fallen apart". The narrator is currently living with his parents as indicated in line 7, "I was staying at my parents place. The sentences " 'What do you do?' the first woman ask me. 'Right now, nothing,' I said. 'Sometimes, when I can., I go to school' " (line 21-22) indicates that he is jobless and could be currently a substitute teacher. From the sentence 'Someone put a coin in the juke box that a song that my wife liked began to play (line 38), I could deduce that the narrator still have feelings for his wife as he was reminiscing about his wife. And it was probably his wife who initiated the divorce. However, it was also mentioned in "I had another girl" (line 1-2), that he already had got himself another girl. This shows that the narrator is probably a flirt and this could be the cause of the downfall of his marriage-extra-marital affair, as he had got a new girl soon after the divorce.
The narrator was most probably very hard up. This was evident in the two sentences, "I hadn't eaten anything all day except some peanuts." (line 87) , "I counted some change, which left me with thirty cents from the two dollars I'd started with a couple of hours ago." (line 33-34) and also the fact that the narrator was pinning for the two women to buy him a drink (line 19-20). In normal circumstances, it'll normally be the men buying drinks for the ladies, whereas in this story, it's exactly the opposite. It's the man who's hoping to get a free drink from the ladies instead.
In the relationship between the narrator and his wife, the wife is evidently the superior one in the relationship. As after the divorce, the narrator had lost his dwelling
In the story 'Night School' by Raymond Carver, there are a total of three main characters, namely the protagonist and the two women.
The story is told using the first person narrative. The protagonist, who is also the narrator, is a divorcee. This is evident in the first sentence of the story, "My marriage had just fallen apart". The narrator is currently living with his parents as indicated in line 7, "I was staying at my parents place. The sentences " 'What do you do?' the first woman ask me. 'Right now, nothing,' I said. 'Sometimes, when I can., I go to school' " (line 21-22) indicates that he is jobless and could be currently a substitute teacher. From the sentence 'Someone put a coin in the juke box that a song that my wife liked began to play (line 38), I could deduce that the narrator still have feelings for his wife as he was reminiscing about his wife. And it was probably his wife who initiated the divorce. However, it was also mentioned in "I had another girl" (line 1-2), that he already had got himself another girl. This shows that the narrator is probably a flirt and this could be the cause of the downfall of his marriage-extra-marital affair, as he had got a new girl soon after the divorce.
The narrator was most probably very hard up. This was evident in the two sentences, "I hadn't eaten anything all day except some peanuts." (line 87) , "I counted some change, which left me with thirty cents from the two dollars I'd started with a couple of hours ago." (line 33-34) and also the fact that the narrator was pinning for the two women to buy him a drink (line 19-20). In normal circumstances, it'll normally be the men buying drinks for the ladies, whereas in this story, it's exactly the opposite. It's the man who's hoping to get a free drink from the ladies instead.
In the relationship between the narrator and his wife, the wife is evidently the superior one in the relationship. As after the divorce, the narrator had lost his dwelling