By Looking Closely At Language, Content, Style Show How ? Fat? Can Be Considered A Typical Carve Sto Essay, Research Paper
??????????????? When answering this question one must first consider what a typical
Raymond Carve story is. After reading several of his other short stories you
can see a pattern developing. His minimalist style creates a sense of
detachment from the story and its characters, however at the same time he is
still able to take you through a range of emotions. A typical Carver story
certainly involves colloquial and easy to understand language. However at the
base and beneath this are very intricate and detailed story lines that often
have underlying hidden messages, these messages are the readers job to uncover.
The simplicity of Raymond Carver’s characters makes them
complex. Though this is an ironic statement as irony is part of Raymond
Carver?s writing. The identities of his characters are simple and ordinary, but
the irony of the stories makes them strange. Most of Carver’s characters are
similar: lonely personalities without the ability to express themselves,
struggling with the difficulties of the daily life and moving from job to job.
There is a limit to what they can bear, and even an insignificant event can
crush their lives. Their ordinary lives suddenly seam not so ordinary; they
become strange. The settings are semi-industrial American towns that make the
reader depressed and anxious. The plots of his stories are also comparable: the
action begins with ordinary lives, which somehow collapse into darkness,
depression and panic. The world portrayed by the author is without religion,
politics, culture or society. The reader is left with mixed feelings: despair
and thankfulness. Our lives may be bad, but compared to those described in his
stories they seem heavenly. ??????????? If you compare ?Fat? to this analogy
then one can certainly see similarities. Language
wise, this story is simple with no complex metaphors etc, Carver does not need
these to create the picture he wants. His simple writing style still can bring
you through a range of emotions. At the beginning of the story I found it
humorous,? This man is the fattest person I have ever seen.? This description
of the man can be interpreted as entertaining. However as the story develops,
this aspect of humour soon changes into a more serious matter as one begins to
feel sympathy for the man. The detailed description of what he eats, how he
eats and people?s remarks to his weight filled me with great compassion, ?He?s
really a fatty.? The language used by the characters to describe the man can be
harsh and cruel reinforcing your sympathy for him. In terms of style the use of the first person narrative in
this story allows Carver to step back and have less of an interpretive
influence. A first person narrative does not allow Carver to have such control
over the characters. The gives a greater sense of realism. Many of Carvers
stories are focused on one character describing events. In ?Fat? it is based
around this women giving her perception of proceedings, ?I say and a feeling
comes over me? The women does not describe what this feeling is just that she
has one. This adds a twist to the story as the women is not just concerned by
this mans weight but by something else. It is our job as the reader to dissect
this. Also at the beginning of the story it is a very laid back and relaxed
style, however as the story progresses your emotions start to surface and you
are trying to figure out what is really going on. This is Carver? style being
able to subletely flips the whole story over bringing up many surprises along
the way. As with many other of his short stories, Carver will
describe something so far and just at the point where everything is about to be
uncovered he stops, leaving the rest to our imagination. At the end of a Carver
story you feel baffled as such a simple event can be turned around into
something life changing for a character. If one looks at the general content of the story then you
see several parallels emerging with his other stories. ?Fat? starts off with an
ordinary person, with an ordinary job in a ordinary situation. However Carver?s
brilliance is how he converts these seemingly dull situations into a life
changing experience for the character. If one looks at ?Fat? then the ending is
a complete bafflement for the reader, ?My life is going to change. I feel it.?
In ?Fat? there is no real story line as with his other stories, but its ending
exemplifies Carver?s minimalist style, keeping everything simple on the
surface, but underneath you can see that something else is going on. In conclusion ?Fat? has man similarities with a typical
Carver story. With its minimalist style and dull ordinary people living their
lives, however these lives can be changed dramatically by one person or one
event. As a result the lives can go into depression or do the opposite and
flourish.