Why Honey By Raymond Carver

“Why, Honey?” is a short story written by the American short-story writer and poet, Raymond Carver, published in his collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please in 1970 (en.wikipedia.org). The text tells the story of a mother’s concern of her son’s behaviour and tendency to lie starting from a young age to present time, in a form of a letter, an epistolary narrative (sittingbee.com).
The woman in the text is the protagonist and narrator of the story and her son is a minor character. However, even though her son is a minor character, he is the topic of her letter. His character is complex and dynamic. Throughout her letter, the mother explains how her son changed as he grew older. She explains that his changes started from a very young age: “He was a good boy except for his outbursts and that he could not tell the truth. I can’t give you any reasons. It started one summer over the 4th of July, he would have been about fifteen.” (International Focus, p. 333) The mother recalls that after him and his friend harmed and
There are several instances in the story that highlights the theme of trust between the male character and his mother, or rather the lack of it. As mentioned before, a neighbour claimed to have seen two boys harming the narrator’s cat, Trudy’s, ears, one of them being her son. At first the narrator does not want to believe it was her son, however, she does suspects it was him, displaying a lack of trust. Secondly, the mother’s lack of trust is also exemplified when she confronts her son about why he lies and how he treats her. After a long chain of questions during this confrontation, she ends with asking “Why, honey?”, a phrase related to the title of the short story. Moreover, the phrase is linked to the boy as she addresses him as “honey” several times. In summary, the mother and her relationship with her son is built on lack of trust, a reoccurring theme in the short