'Entrapment In Raymond Carver's Story Boxes'

Raymond Carver’s story “Boxes” has a deeper meaning than a mother and son’s relationship. Carver uses an example to explain how people experience issues in the own relationships. He uses this relationship to explain what people experience frequently in their own relationships and not just the one discussed in this story. He uses this example to tell the reader how sometimes relationships become tight and “entrapment” starts to occur. The two themes conveyed to tie the point together are despair and guilt and disconnectedness occurring because of the feeling of entrapment. Though “Boxes” discusses physical boxes, the story is also about the psychological boxes keeping us from partaking in different activities in life. When discussing both physical
and psychological boxes compared to the three main characters, the reader can see their lives unfold and conclude the title is about more than physical boxes.
In the story, there is a discussion about the boxes the mother has put her items in for her next move. Understanding boxes allows the reader to conclude their purpose is to hold items. However, when digging deeper, the boxes hold much more than ordinary items. Instead, they hold your life. The boxes in the story represent the mother having her life all boxed up in the boxes. When the narrator says the “Boxes have been sitting there for months” he is eluding to the fact that the mother is not ready to move nor does she want to move (Carver, 583). By having the boxes sit means she doesn’t want to move and reopen the boxes, or in other words, she does not want to start a new life again.
The story depicts the mother as a nomad who does not stay in one place for long. This nomadic lifestyle is because she does not know how to make a fulfilling life for herself and she is trying to find somewhere “that will make me happy” (Carver, 585). The mother did not always have a nomadic lifestyle. In fact, the moving from place to place every few months did not start until the narrator’s father “lost his job” (Carver, 585). The mother and father kept moving until he died. Once he died, the mother “kept moving’ from place to place as she always wanted to find a happier place (Carver, 585). Even when she moved closer to her son, she was still not living a fulfilling life. In fact, she was forever discontent as the narrator says “she talked bitterly about the place she was leaving and optimistically about the place she was going to” (Carver 585).
The mother does not just have a sense of unhappiness. In the story, she also has a sense of disconnection with her son. This disconnection leads to her yearning to reconnect with him. With the disconnection, she fears to relinquish her hold on her son letting him grow up and have his own life. Throughout the story, the mother tries to protect her son from the world. She thinks Jill and every girl he meets is an “intruder” (Carver, 583). Just as any mother would do, she does not want to see her son grow up and become distant from her. This is the case in the story as the son has moved away from her and has no plans of returning to where he used to live. The story is not just about the mother; the story also focuses on the narrator’s perspective.
The narrator is the son of the mother in the story and he feels awful for what he has thought about his mother. He says he has “unworthy feelings” as he loves his mother but also realizes she needs to leave in order for him to have his own life. The narrator stands for the other theme of remorse and guilt. He is guilty of much concerning his mother and he realizes she is “all the family I have left” (Carver, 588). Torn between the two women in his life, he cannot decide if he should move to where his mother is or if he should stay with his girlfriend. As depicted in the text, he feels torn about “the woman who brought me into this life and this other woman I picked up with less than a year ago” (Carver, 589). The narrator knows this for sure when he says they could “tear me apart” (Carver 589). The narrator’s ultimate decision is to either move back with his mother or to start his own life and live with his girlfriend, Jill. The narrator feels entrapped inside psychological boxes or in other words, his own
mind.
These psychological boxes show relationships as sometimes becoming unhealthy. The boxes the reader sees forming in the narrator are guilt and remorse and the decision he must make. His mother lays “guilt trips” on him leading the narrator to feel as if he is a horrible son (Carver, 584). Some of the guilt trips seen throughout this story come from the mother. For example, when the mother says “I never see you,” she is guilt tripping her son (Carver, 584). He is concerned about what to do with his mother. This is where the narrator’s psychological boxes come in. The narrator cannot decide what to do. On one hand, he loves his mother, and on the other hand, he wants his mother to move as far away as possible so he can start his own life.
Jill, the narrator’s girlfriend is concerned especially when the discussion turns to talking about his mother. Jill is a 35-year-old dog groomer and she has had a rough life. Having been married twice and her two kids kidnapped, Jill is quite happy now with the narrator. Likewise, the narrator is happy with her as well and because Jill loves him, she is concerned for him. She shows this concern when she says to the mother she thinks the move is making the narrator “worried sick” (Carver, 587). In this story, Jill wants the narrator to stay and she is afraid the mother’s leaving will destroy the narrator.
In the end of the story, the narrator sums up his guilt and remorse when the family next door returns home.
The narrator says “The people over there embrace for a minute and they go inside the house together” (Carver, 590). This shows the narrator as someone regretting his decision and yearning for the opportunity to have his family back even though he knows that is not possible. Throughout the story, the mother, narrator, and Jill are all different people with the same dilemma of choosing a path in life. Carver showing this dilemma shows us we always have decisions to make and sometimes the decisions come with consequences. Through using physical and psychological boxes, the reader can see relationships as beneficial or harmful depending on the situation. The narrator is portraying the darker side of ourselves coming out when we must make
decisions.