My Fathers Life
In between the two world wars, America suffered from hunger and unemployment. This all happened because of the huge economic crisis, which struck the whole world in 1929. It is not unusual that this type of crisis can lead man into alcoholism and gambling, and quickly, a whole family can be on the edge of destruction.
This is exactly what Raymond Carver describes in his novel “My Father’s Life” from 1984.
In his novel, Raymond Carver describes his father’s life, starting with his death and continuing with how he met his wife. The story goes on, telling about their poor life, his alcoholism, gambling and his unfaithfulness.
The father is named Clevie Raymond Carver and he is roughly described as a drunkard, who has a hard time finding work and staying faithful to his wife. He has had a lot of mistresses since he got married, which does not bother him the slightest. He is restless and seeks happiness, which he has a hard time finding.
Although he seems cold and heartless at some points, it seems that he cares a lot about his friends and coworkers: “(…)he stood in the crowd and heard Franklin D. Roosevelt when he spoke at the construction side. ‘He never mentioned those guys who died building that dam,’ my dad said. Some of his friends had died there(…)”.
When Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. was born, Clevie had a construction job at a sawmill and those years was the best of his life. Later on, when WWII broke out, it went downhill for him again, because he lost all his money gambling and had therefore a hard time feeding his family.
Sometimes Clevie would tell his son that he had to live at some other family members place, probably because he could not afford having a child to feed and take care of, but it always ended up with Raymond staying, because Clevie would find a way to feed all of them. But even though their relationship did not seem very good, and the memories Raymond describes not very nice, they still have some kind of love to each other. When Clevie
This is exactly what Raymond Carver describes in his novel “My Father’s Life” from 1984.
In his novel, Raymond Carver describes his father’s life, starting with his death and continuing with how he met his wife. The story goes on, telling about their poor life, his alcoholism, gambling and his unfaithfulness.
The father is named Clevie Raymond Carver and he is roughly described as a drunkard, who has a hard time finding work and staying faithful to his wife. He has had a lot of mistresses since he got married, which does not bother him the slightest. He is restless and seeks happiness, which he has a hard time finding.
Although he seems cold and heartless at some points, it seems that he cares a lot about his friends and coworkers: “(…)he stood in the crowd and heard Franklin D. Roosevelt when he spoke at the construction side. ‘He never mentioned those guys who died building that dam,’ my dad said. Some of his friends had died there(…)”.
When Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. was born, Clevie had a construction job at a sawmill and those years was the best of his life. Later on, when WWII broke out, it went downhill for him again, because he lost all his money gambling and had therefore a hard time feeding his family.
Sometimes Clevie would tell his son that he had to live at some other family members place, probably because he could not afford having a child to feed and take care of, but it always ended up with Raymond staying, because Clevie would find a way to feed all of them. But even though their relationship did not seem very good, and the memories Raymond describes not very nice, they still have some kind of love to each other. When Clevie