I am deeply ambivalent about Raymond Carver. My beef with this particular dead guy has less to do with his fine stories than with his 1980s-era apotheosis into an academic demigod‚ his canonization as St. Ray of the MFA programs‚ the way his works and style became paradigms to be slavishly imitated by a generation (maybe two generations now) of American writing students‚ a process of sowing that came to barren fruition in the bland‚ flat‚ snowy fields of zero-degree Minimalist prose. All this has
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The Elephant notes: One. Reading Questions 1. What kind of metaphorical meaning do we get from the story’s title? An elephant bears heavy burdens‚ it suffers‚ and it never forgets. This speaks perhaps to the narrator’s martyr complex. 2. What is the narrator’s dependence or addiction? He’s dependent on people being dependent on him. He even lets his brother “play” him‚ like “play him for a fool.” 3. What pattern of the narrator’s pathological behavior becomes evident on page 476? He’s giving
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descriptive words with negative connotation; “This blind man was late forties‚ a heavy-set‚ balding man with stooped shoulders‚ as if he carried a great weight there. He wore brown slacks‚ brown shoes‚ a light-brown shirt‚ a tie‚ a sports coat. Spiffy” (Carver‚ 5). The narrator’s description‚ not only subconsciously affects his feelings towards Robert‚ but also affects the opinions of the readers. Instead of allowing the readers to develop an opinion of their own‚ the narrator’s bias has created one. The
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The title of the text I chose is “The Bath”. This text is a short story written by Raymond Carver‚ a re-known short stories writer from 1962-1986 in Americas’ history. Concerning the author message about “The Bath”‚ we are reading a story of a young boy called Scotty who was about to turn eight year on Monday that he was hit by a car while walking with his friend to school. The story is dominated by mute communication between personalities; bath was used as the means of relieve for affected parents
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of literary criticism on Carver’s Cathedral‚ a collection of short stories written by Carver which was published in 1983. One that stood out to be in particular was James W. Grinnell’s criticism on Carver’s Cathedral works. Grinnell wrote his review in the winter of 1984‚ and went on to say many things about Carver’s work. Grinnell mostly praises Carver’s work and his addition of newer and more creative ideas in his latest work. Grinnell also believes that Carver has improved his‚ what some called
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situation and ignorance towards the feeling of others. In Raymond carver’s short story “cathedral‚” the narrator’s emotional and psychological blindness is immediately apparent. The many issues faced by the narrator as well as the turn-around experienced at the culmination of the tale are the main idea for the theme of this story and these ideas aid the narrator in eventually collapse to character transformation by simply regarding the literal blind man in a positive way. The narrator’s
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Springer October. 12‚ 2012 George Washington Carver was born in January 1864 into slavery in Diamond‚ Missouri. His master Moses Carver was a German American immigrant who brought George’s parents Mary and Giles. George had 10 brothers and sisters who all died prematurely. When George was only a week old‚ he was kidnapped along with his mother and sister‚ George’s older brother James got to safety though. The raiders sold the stolen slaves in Kentucky. Moses Carver hired a man named John Bentley to find
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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
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Raymond Carvers Cathedral illustrates the point of view of a self-centered man‚ the narrator‚ who suffers from a mild lack of education and culture while being more than slightly close-minded and rude. These are observations that one can make by considering how he reacts to his wifes blind friend‚ Robert coming over at their house as well as by his perceptions of the blind man. The fact that the main character is also narrating helps as well when trying to capture his nature since we have access
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1/23/14 Comparative Literary Analysis Performance Task Allegory of the Cathedral As the philospoher Seneca once said‚ “It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.” Raymond Carver’s Cathedral is a story about a man who started out as a closed-minded man but‚ throughout the story his character changes as he begins to bond with his wife’s friend‚ Robert‚ a man who is blind. Plato’s Allegory of the cave is a story about a prisoner who is freed from being locked in chains living all of
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