The Necessity Of Communication In The Short Story Feathers
It would be safe to say that having a relationship of any sort requires some attention and some sort of communication. It is a constant necessity in order to have the ability to call it a “relationship.” Attention allows for a person to know that their partner listens and is willing to give them their time and effort. Communication allows for the other partner to know what the other wants or talk over a problem that may arise. I will say that it is difficult to know how to truly have a relationship since some people’s insecurities are not much of a flaw as it is for others, it varies between the person and their wants. Also some become worried so much over what the other partner is doing, they act the same in hopes for the other to notice so
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it can be fixed. Over time it is very easy to become comfortable, isolated, and inconsiderate of a partner. Some may not seem to notice or when they do, it is due from being presented to a good relationship that is more happy than not. In Raymond Carver’s “Feathers,”we are introduced a couple whose relationship was satisfying until they realized what a true meaning of a happy relationship is about. Jack and Fran enjoyed each other's company. They were able to talk about life and their wants, but then they met Bud and Olla. Bud and Olla’s relationship was a perfect example of how happy marriages are pictured; with the family, the house, and the caring husband. They spent an eventful evening together which consisted of various events, in which slowly started showing differences between Jack and Fran. By the end of the night, the idea of Bud and Olla’s life becomes such a likable idea that they decide to start a family. This is result of Jack and Fran’s relationship which came to a downward spiral through realizations of miscommunication, unfulfilled desires, and selfish wants. An undeniable issue between Jack and Fran is the constant presence of silence. Not only does it issue a lack of communication but it provokes some insecurities. Jack doesn’t feel the need to share his ideas with Fran because he fears of them being rejected, “... change occurs in their marriage, Fran speaks frequently and negatively as one of the highlight of an unforgettable event in his life,” (Champion). He truly enjoyed that Bud and Olla were having a good time, along with the peacock and their child. He wished to keep that memory forever, but Fran labeled the night crazy and judged the two for the rest of her life; she never met them again after that night. Jack is not allowed to feel the joy of sharing his thoughts and feelings with his significant other, he is left with the feeling of not being able to share small joys. All throughout that visit there is the constant mentioning of “Fran didn’t say anything,” or “ Fran stared at it too, I guess she didn’t know what to say either.”(Carver). This shows a comparison between Bud and Olla because Bud listens to what Olla has to say. When Olla had the story about her teeth, Bud without a doubt listened to her because of what he ended up doing for her. Meanwhile Jack and Fran are growing accustomed to living with each other without saying a word. They ended up on different views after that night, having Jack calling his baby “conniving” and saying how “She and I talk less and less how it is.” (Carver). He is not able to talk about anything, not even his family, without a sense of regret. Ni mentions that “if your relationship suffers from ineffective communication, the good new is that as long as you and your partner are willing, improvements can be learned quickly and put to use immediately.” Instead Jack and Fran thought that having a baby would change it around but it did the opposite. Not only was Jack becoming more distant with his family, but he avoided to talk about them all he could. The night created a division between the two.. Goals as a couple can be an ambitious tool, one where you can make eachother work harder and better for the things you guys want to reach in life.
There’s only two outcomes of dreaming for these things:, Oone where you keep dreaming or one where you fulfill the desire of that dream. Where a relationship can later be seemed as a paradise.These are two outcomes are presented within the couple in the story “Feathers.” Right from the beginning Jack mentions how he and Fran “[...] wished for a new car, that’s one of the things we wished for. And we wished we could spend a couple of weeks in Canada.” (Carver). Then later on in the story they are introduced to how Bud fixed Olla’s teeth and bought her a peacock. There is a certain feeling in wanting to see your significant other to be happy. You can clearly tell how Bud deeply cares for Olla, by his actions clearly viewed in the story. On the other hand, Jack and Fran’s relationship is more of a plain over the surface type. It does not contain much depth since they do not do anything for each other in regards to anything. Not even trying to know how the other feels. This did not show much of a strain before hand, but after being presented to a caring example, little things add up. A relationship should be building up, be satisfying, and have some surprise in it. If Jack and Fran constantly just wish for things, having hopeless dreams, should they really be together? Relationships should be about pushing someone to do better, not just for themselves, but for the both of them. They need some motivation in their relationship, one where it should be for each other but that is not enough for them. They decided that having a child could be a wonderful thing, but it just lead to more of a division. They knew they did not want kids, a fulfillment of an unwanted thought, instead of actually fulfilling what they wanted. Bud and Olla could have been seen as the paradise of all relationships, not just because they had a peacock
which is also known as a “bird of paradise”, but because how they willed to make eachother happy. They were content with their life. They got what they always wanted, due to the fact that they worked for it in their relationship. All Jack and Fran were left with was a cloud of unspoken word and empty dreams. Getting older while a relationship gets older is tough. Things can start becoming a routine and actions can start to become predictable. A way to maintain a strong relationship through that, is by having and remembering things which made you fall in love with that person in the first place. When Jack mentions how he loves Fran’s hair, he also says “I might stop loving her if she cuts it.” (Carver). Fran could not have been oblivious to how Jack felt about that one and obvious detail about her. By the end of the story, her hair is gone. Being inconsiderate of just one thing can say a lot. Jack had this one thing about Fran that he absolutely loves and she just decides to get rid of it. Fran can be seen as just doing things for her own benefit instead of trying to make the other happy. If someone loved something about you, especially your husband, why would you feel the need to get rid of it? Do you not care what they think of you anymore? Fran also constantly shuts down joys saying things like “Goddamn those people and their ugly baby,” a statement which was directed to one of his good friends. An only friend for that matter. She doesn’t give Jack a friend, nor does she let him enjoy the only one he has. She thinks for herself. Being selfish can be the number one cause of destroying a relationship by "the daily withdrawal and negative interactions that show how selfish we can act, how cold we can be, and how unfair we can treat our partner ... Essentially, looking for our own self-benefit, regardless of how sabotaging it can be for our partner’s need,” (Loveland). But it isn’t just Fran’s fault for making Jack feel inferior. They both do not do anything for eachother, they both do not say anything, they both do not care enough to make the relationship work. They express so many wants but they fail to make each other their own. A relationship would not feel so empty if they focused on each other. Maybe then their desire of being happy would be fulfilled.
Enjoying your life should not just be a dream, but having someone you can enjoy it with should be life goal. If you are not happy with someone, why stay with them? Life is too short to be stuck with someone who does not look out for your best interest. Being alone and making sure you are happy would be easier than try to make two unhappy people happy. After that night that Jack and Fran spent together with Bud and Olla, it seems clear that they did not stay on the same page. Fran began to change the way she acted towards Jack, and Jack than began to refuse to even speak about his family for the lack of happiness it brought him. Bud and Olla were a great depiction of how happy marriages should end up together. Jack and Fran attempted to create a family instead of fixing their own relationship, a mistake. The readers in “Feathers” were very much aware of how Jack felt in the relationship. They can also notice how Jack never did anything to help the relationship’s silence. He was aware of it all, and although it does not go over anything in Fran’s point of view, she could have not been oblivious to the fact of her marriage was on the rocks. She knew how Jack felt about certain things and she never said anything to acknowledge them. They both knew what type of goals they could have reached together and what type of life they could have reached together, but they did not want their relationship enough so instead the rest was filled with silence.
Works Cited:
Bradley, Qianna. "Learning the Ropes about Ties that Bind." McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Sep 08, 2006, pp. 1, ProQuest Newsstand, http://eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/docview/459805787?accountid=12902.
Carver, Raymond. “Feathers.” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 6th ed., edited by Anne Charters, Bedford/St. Martins, 2003, pp. 100-121.
Champion, Laurie. “What’s to say”: Silence in Raymond Carver's Feathers”. “Studies in short
Fiction, Vol 34, no. 2, 1997 pp 193-201, Research Library. http://search.proquest.com.eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/cv_790453/docview/195681476/2C72BF4D60344284PQ/1?accountid=12902 Deitz, Bibi. "This One Thing Will Hurt Your Relationship More Than Cheating Ever Could,
Because Negativity Is The Cold Hand Of Death." Bustle. Bustle, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 May 2017. https://www.bustle.com/articles/103383-this-one-thing-will-hurt-your-relationship-more-than-cheating-ever-could-because-negativity-is-the Ni, Preston. "7 Keys to Long-Term Relationship Success." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 04 May 2017
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201210/7-keys-long-term-relationship-success
it can be fixed. Over time it is very easy to become comfortable, isolated, and inconsiderate of a partner. Some may not seem to notice or when they do, it is due from being presented to a good relationship that is more happy than not. In Raymond Carver’s “Feathers,”we are introduced a couple whose relationship was satisfying until they realized what a true meaning of a happy relationship is about. Jack and Fran enjoyed each other's company. They were able to talk about life and their wants, but then they met Bud and Olla. Bud and Olla’s relationship was a perfect example of how happy marriages are pictured; with the family, the house, and the caring husband. They spent an eventful evening together which consisted of various events, in which slowly started showing differences between Jack and Fran. By the end of the night, the idea of Bud and Olla’s life becomes such a likable idea that they decide to start a family. This is result of Jack and Fran’s relationship which came to a downward spiral through realizations of miscommunication, unfulfilled desires, and selfish wants. An undeniable issue between Jack and Fran is the constant presence of silence. Not only does it issue a lack of communication but it provokes some insecurities. Jack doesn’t feel the need to share his ideas with Fran because he fears of them being rejected, “... change occurs in their marriage, Fran speaks frequently and negatively as one of the highlight of an unforgettable event in his life,” (Champion). He truly enjoyed that Bud and Olla were having a good time, along with the peacock and their child. He wished to keep that memory forever, but Fran labeled the night crazy and judged the two for the rest of her life; she never met them again after that night. Jack is not allowed to feel the joy of sharing his thoughts and feelings with his significant other, he is left with the feeling of not being able to share small joys. All throughout that visit there is the constant mentioning of “Fran didn’t say anything,” or “ Fran stared at it too, I guess she didn’t know what to say either.”(Carver). This shows a comparison between Bud and Olla because Bud listens to what Olla has to say. When Olla had the story about her teeth, Bud without a doubt listened to her because of what he ended up doing for her. Meanwhile Jack and Fran are growing accustomed to living with each other without saying a word. They ended up on different views after that night, having Jack calling his baby “conniving” and saying how “She and I talk less and less how it is.” (Carver). He is not able to talk about anything, not even his family, without a sense of regret. Ni mentions that “if your relationship suffers from ineffective communication, the good new is that as long as you and your partner are willing, improvements can be learned quickly and put to use immediately.” Instead Jack and Fran thought that having a baby would change it around but it did the opposite. Not only was Jack becoming more distant with his family, but he avoided to talk about them all he could. The night created a division between the two.. Goals as a couple can be an ambitious tool, one where you can make eachother work harder and better for the things you guys want to reach in life.
There’s only two outcomes of dreaming for these things:, Oone where you keep dreaming or one where you fulfill the desire of that dream. Where a relationship can later be seemed as a paradise.These are two outcomes are presented within the couple in the story “Feathers.” Right from the beginning Jack mentions how he and Fran “[...] wished for a new car, that’s one of the things we wished for. And we wished we could spend a couple of weeks in Canada.” (Carver). Then later on in the story they are introduced to how Bud fixed Olla’s teeth and bought her a peacock. There is a certain feeling in wanting to see your significant other to be happy. You can clearly tell how Bud deeply cares for Olla, by his actions clearly viewed in the story. On the other hand, Jack and Fran’s relationship is more of a plain over the surface type. It does not contain much depth since they do not do anything for each other in regards to anything. Not even trying to know how the other feels. This did not show much of a strain before hand, but after being presented to a caring example, little things add up. A relationship should be building up, be satisfying, and have some surprise in it. If Jack and Fran constantly just wish for things, having hopeless dreams, should they really be together? Relationships should be about pushing someone to do better, not just for themselves, but for the both of them. They need some motivation in their relationship, one where it should be for each other but that is not enough for them. They decided that having a child could be a wonderful thing, but it just lead to more of a division. They knew they did not want kids, a fulfillment of an unwanted thought, instead of actually fulfilling what they wanted. Bud and Olla could have been seen as the paradise of all relationships, not just because they had a peacock
which is also known as a “bird of paradise”, but because how they willed to make eachother happy. They were content with their life. They got what they always wanted, due to the fact that they worked for it in their relationship. All Jack and Fran were left with was a cloud of unspoken word and empty dreams. Getting older while a relationship gets older is tough. Things can start becoming a routine and actions can start to become predictable. A way to maintain a strong relationship through that, is by having and remembering things which made you fall in love with that person in the first place. When Jack mentions how he loves Fran’s hair, he also says “I might stop loving her if she cuts it.” (Carver). Fran could not have been oblivious to how Jack felt about that one and obvious detail about her. By the end of the story, her hair is gone. Being inconsiderate of just one thing can say a lot. Jack had this one thing about Fran that he absolutely loves and she just decides to get rid of it. Fran can be seen as just doing things for her own benefit instead of trying to make the other happy. If someone loved something about you, especially your husband, why would you feel the need to get rid of it? Do you not care what they think of you anymore? Fran also constantly shuts down joys saying things like “Goddamn those people and their ugly baby,” a statement which was directed to one of his good friends. An only friend for that matter. She doesn’t give Jack a friend, nor does she let him enjoy the only one he has. She thinks for herself. Being selfish can be the number one cause of destroying a relationship by "the daily withdrawal and negative interactions that show how selfish we can act, how cold we can be, and how unfair we can treat our partner ... Essentially, looking for our own self-benefit, regardless of how sabotaging it can be for our partner’s need,” (Loveland). But it isn’t just Fran’s fault for making Jack feel inferior. They both do not do anything for eachother, they both do not say anything, they both do not care enough to make the relationship work. They express so many wants but they fail to make each other their own. A relationship would not feel so empty if they focused on each other. Maybe then their desire of being happy would be fulfilled.
Enjoying your life should not just be a dream, but having someone you can enjoy it with should be life goal. If you are not happy with someone, why stay with them? Life is too short to be stuck with someone who does not look out for your best interest. Being alone and making sure you are happy would be easier than try to make two unhappy people happy. After that night that Jack and Fran spent together with Bud and Olla, it seems clear that they did not stay on the same page. Fran began to change the way she acted towards Jack, and Jack than began to refuse to even speak about his family for the lack of happiness it brought him. Bud and Olla were a great depiction of how happy marriages should end up together. Jack and Fran attempted to create a family instead of fixing their own relationship, a mistake. The readers in “Feathers” were very much aware of how Jack felt in the relationship. They can also notice how Jack never did anything to help the relationship’s silence. He was aware of it all, and although it does not go over anything in Fran’s point of view, she could have not been oblivious to the fact of her marriage was on the rocks. She knew how Jack felt about certain things and she never said anything to acknowledge them. They both knew what type of goals they could have reached together and what type of life they could have reached together, but they did not want their relationship enough so instead the rest was filled with silence.
Works Cited:
Bradley, Qianna. "Learning the Ropes about Ties that Bind." McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Sep 08, 2006, pp. 1, ProQuest Newsstand, http://eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/docview/459805787?accountid=12902.
Carver, Raymond. “Feathers.” The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. 6th ed., edited by Anne Charters, Bedford/St. Martins, 2003, pp. 100-121.
Champion, Laurie. “What’s to say”: Silence in Raymond Carver's Feathers”. “Studies in short
Fiction, Vol 34, no. 2, 1997 pp 193-201, Research Library. http://search.proquest.com.eznvcc.vccs.edu:2048/cv_790453/docview/195681476/2C72BF4D60344284PQ/1?accountid=12902 Deitz, Bibi. "This One Thing Will Hurt Your Relationship More Than Cheating Ever Could,
Because Negativity Is The Cold Hand Of Death." Bustle. Bustle, 27 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 May 2017. https://www.bustle.com/articles/103383-this-one-thing-will-hurt-your-relationship-more-than-cheating-ever-could-because-negativity-is-the Ni, Preston. "7 Keys to Long-Term Relationship Success." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 04 May 2017
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201210/7-keys-long-term-relationship-success