Raymond Carver. Having grown in a family with very limited financial resources and a father who was drinking, Raymond Carver was exposed to the unpleasantness at an early age. As he grew older, he started drinking himself. Eventually, the author battled alcoholism and was able to beat it. He was given a second chance in life. The honesty in Carver’s work undeniable; he was able to relate his struggles to his characters looking for a second chance, thus making his readers aware of the importance of giving people another chance to improve their lives.
A group of writers who formed the “Dirty Realism Writing School” became popular in 1980’s. They wrote stories on real life and their characters are deep in disappointment and tragedy. Raymond Carver one of the writer’s, who wrote as a master of minimalism, his writing technique creates a sense of uncertainty and he leaves the reader guessing. Carver in his real life was not a minimalist: in fact it was ironic that he was the opposite, he was a walking tragedy, which showed in the “Cathedral” and “A Small, Good Thing.” The stories were simple and packed with deep emotional feelings, its gives the reader a true inner look at one self. This article will demonstrate that the author always left it to the readers to draw their own conclusions, his stories are similar to the way Carver lived his own life, having a Second Chance. (Comninos, Raymond Carver: A Writer's life,