The Blind Man By Raymond Carver

Dirty fiction is a writing technique that became popular around the 1980s. It focused on the life of ordinary middle-class people, which involved heartbreaks, failures, disappointments, and the harsh realities of life. Dirty fiction writing is commonly associated with simple language, direct descriptions, straightforward vocabulary, and no resolution. Background information, setting details, and complex sentence structure are very scarce in this style of writing style. Raymond Carver was one of many who frequently used the dirty fiction technique. Growing up, Carver’s mother and father struggled while trying to support him and his brother. They were very poor and suffered from many hardships, including his father’s death at the age of 53. Since relating to disappointments
The reader learns of the first hardship, in the beginning of the text. The second sentence of the story states that Robert’s wife has died (p. 1532). Robert, being a blindman, faced many obstacles while not being able to see, the loss of his wife added on to his burdens. Later, the text describes the suicide attempt of the narrator’s wife. “She got to feeling she couldn’t go it another step. She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest and washed them down with a bottle of gin. Then she got into a hot bath and passed out. But instead of dying, she got sick.” (p. 1533). This is also evidence of the weak relationship between the narrator and his wife. There are no emotions being illustrated as the husband describes his wife attempt to take her life. In fact, there is little communication between them. “I waited in vain to hear my name on my wife’s sweet lips: “And then my dear husband came into my life” something like that. But I heard nothing of the sort. More talk of Robert.” (p. 1537). We are given clues of an estranged relationship, but no background information on their relation is