Addictions
Having addictions must be horrible. Depending on something so much, either physical or emotional, that you can’t live without it is very limiting. It’s like being a slave to something you chose yourself. Becoming an addict means you lose liberty. There are some things on which we depend on: food, water, sleep. But there are others that we don’t really need to survive but some people make them necessary, indispensable. Drugs, sex, alcohol are things to which one can easily get addicted to. In several of Carters short stories, the main characters are either alcoholic or heavy drinkers or he at least mentions alcoholic beverage at one point or another. This probably shows that the author might have a problem with alcohol and even if he doesn’t have one, he still thinks about it a lot. In his story Where I’m Calling From, he even sets the main characters in a drying-out facility and shows how they are trying to fight this addiction. He also shows how the body will want alcohol and how addicts adore and feel the need to have their alcohol. I think he shows this to get across the message that one does become dependent of things one doesn’t realize and that we are probably all addicts to something around us and we will never realize it. And if we do, many don’t accept it, and many others are just not strong enough to fight it.
Having addictions must be horrible. Depending on something so much, either physical or emotional, that you can’t live without it is very limiting. It’s like being a slave to something you chose yourself. Becoming an addict means you lose liberty. There are some things on which we depend on: food, water, sleep. But there are others that we don’t really need to survive but some people make them necessary, indispensable. Drugs, sex, alcohol are things to which one can easily get addicted to. In several of Carters short stories, the main characters are either alcoholic or heavy drinkers or he at least mentions alcoholic beverage at one point or another. This probably shows that the author might have a problem with alcohol and even if he doesn’t have one, he still thinks about it a lot. In his story Where I’m Calling From, he even sets the main characters in a drying-out facility and shows how they are trying to fight this addiction. He also shows how the body will want alcohol and how addicts adore and feel the need to have their alcohol. I think he shows this to get across the message that one does become dependent of things one doesn’t realize and that we are probably all addicts to something around us and we will never realize it. And if we do, many don’t accept it, and many others are just not strong enough to fight it.
Careful
This story once more irritated me because I never got to know what it was the wife wanted. So I went back to my signifying nothing frustration. However I believe that one of the things that Carter is trying to do with this story is tell everybody that the senses we have are precious and we don’t always appreciate them. In the story Cathedral he also mentions a blind man and the relationship he develops with his host. In Careful he doesn’t really talk about a deaf man but the main character clogged his ear and is annoyed by the feeling. He feels so frustrated with his new incapacity that he actually says he would prefer to die. “…if I had to go on like this, I think I’d rather be dead.” (p. 120) In my opinion this is very exaggerated and what Carver is trying to do is to get us to understand that we complain too much. He shows that when we have our senses perfect we don’t really appreciate them or realize their importance, then something goes wrong and one of our senses start malfunctioning and that’s when we understand that we don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it. He probably is also critizing our reaction because we dare to complain about a strange feeling, the man didn’t actually lost his hearing, he is still able to listen perfectly through one ear and the other just gives sound a strange feeling but he can still hear and he complains and threats with his life. Instead there are people that aren’t even able to hear, people that can’t hear plus have other incapacities all at once and they go on with life. They live a happy life and take advantage of what they do have instead of complaining about what they don’t have. Carver also shows us how Lloyd is affected after this experience. After he gets close to losing his hearing ability, he freaks out and gets paranoid that he might lose it once more. He finally begins to appreciate his sense but he doesn’t do it in a positive way but instead freaks out. Instead of realizing the importance of hearing and afterwards talking advantage of his ability he just focuses on the possibility of losing it once more and suffers because of this. So it is rather Ironic because you don’t know any more if Lloyd was suffering more while he had his problem or if he is suffering more now that he doesn’t know what will come and if he’ll lose his hearing ability.
This story once more irritated me because I never got to know what it was the wife wanted. So I went back to my signifying nothing frustration. However I believe that one of the things that Carter is trying to do with this story is tell everybody that the senses we have are precious and we don’t always appreciate them. In the story Cathedral he also mentions a blind man and the relationship he develops with his host. In Careful he doesn’t really talk about a deaf man but the main character clogged his ear and is annoyed by the feeling. He feels so frustrated with his new incapacity that he actually says he would prefer to die. “…if I had to go on like this, I think I’d rather be dead.” (p. 120) In my opinion this is very exaggerated and what Carver is trying to do is to get us to understand that we complain too much. He shows that when we have our senses perfect we don’t really appreciate them or realize their importance, then something goes wrong and one of our senses start malfunctioning and that’s when we understand that we don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it. He probably is also critizing our reaction because we dare to complain about a strange feeling, the man didn’t actually lost his hearing, he is still able to listen perfectly through one ear and the other just gives sound a strange feeling but he can still hear and he complains and threats with his life. Instead there are people that aren’t even able to hear, people that can’t hear plus have other incapacities all at once and they go on with life. They live a happy life and take advantage of what they do have instead of complaining about what they don’t have. Carver also shows us how Lloyd is affected after this experience. After he gets close to losing his hearing ability, he freaks out and gets paranoid that he might lose it once more. He finally begins to appreciate his sense but he doesn’t do it in a positive way but instead freaks out. Instead of realizing the importance of hearing and afterwards talking advantage of his ability he just focuses on the possibility of losing it once more and suffers because of this. So it is rather Ironic because you don’t know any more if Lloyd was suffering more while he had his problem or if he is suffering more now that he doesn’t know what will come and if he’ll lose his hearing ability.
Is Sickness Sometimes the Reflection of Sadness?
As I read the short story I first thought about the importance of kids in a parent’s life and how these should be really well taken care of and appreciated. When I first read the disaster the baby sitter had been I felt sorry for Carlyle and kind of felt mad like he did as he kicked the kids out, that had been after another sitter had failed so I knew he wanted the best for his kids and felt sorry he hadn’t been able to give it to them. Then ironically his wife, the woman that had just left him, gave him a recommendation on a sitter that turned out being great. This woman was great with the kids, the house, and with him. She was even the one with whom he eventually let everything out and helped him finally get on with his life. He was able to let everything out when this sitter said she had to leave and Carlyle had just been sick.
Many people believe that your emotions and ideas affect your health. Carver probably agrees with this because he named the story after the sickness he had just before he got over his situation, Fever. Carlyle probably got sick because he couldn’t stand things anymore. He had been suffering too much because of the fact his wife left him. He missed her and what was worse of all was that he kept on hoping she would come back even after he knew she wouldn’t. I guess that he reached a point of exhaustion and when everything was finally going well, his job, his kids had a good sitter, he had begun getting over his wife, life overwhelmed him and he got sick. Through his fever he got all of his stress out and he “purified” himself and rested while trying to recover. And I guess in a way that fever was really good because it gave him the possibility to rest for a while and think things through and get all the load he had off his shoulders. Now he was able to think clear and his body got a point to when he was able to let everything out to be able to start again and that was what he did. Mrs. Webster was his support as he cried and no she was leaving but after she did, he will have a new beginning and he will be ready for it.
As I read the short story I first thought about the importance of kids in a parent’s life and how these should be really well taken care of and appreciated. When I first read the disaster the baby sitter had been I felt sorry for Carlyle and kind of felt mad like he did as he kicked the kids out, that had been after another sitter had failed so I knew he wanted the best for his kids and felt sorry he hadn’t been able to give it to them. Then ironically his wife, the woman that had just left him, gave him a recommendation on a sitter that turned out being great. This woman was great with the kids, the house, and with him. She was even the one with whom he eventually let everything out and helped him finally get on with his life. He was able to let everything out when this sitter said she had to leave and Carlyle had just been sick.
Many people believe that your emotions and ideas affect your health. Carver probably agrees with this because he named the story after the sickness he had just before he got over his situation, Fever. Carlyle probably got sick because he couldn’t stand things anymore. He had been suffering too much because of the fact his wife left him. He missed her and what was worse of all was that he kept on hoping she would come back even after he knew she wouldn’t. I guess that he reached a point of exhaustion and when everything was finally going well, his job, his kids had a good sitter, he had begun getting over his wife, life overwhelmed him and he got sick. Through his fever he got all of his stress out and he “purified” himself and rested while trying to recover. And I guess in a way that fever was really good because it gave him the possibility to rest for a while and think things through and get all the load he had off his shoulders. Now he was able to think clear and his body got a point to when he was able to let everything out to be able to start again and that was what he did. Mrs. Webster was his support as he cried and no she was leaving but after she did, he will have a new beginning and he will be ready for it.
When things go wrong
All of Carters stories have like a dull mood. In every situation something bad happens to his characters. In some stories, the situation worsens, in others it stays as bad and in others nothing really occurs with it. There are a few in which nothing bad happens and this is as close as one can get to a happy ending in one of Carvers stories. I wonder if this is his opinion of life, that no matter what, it will never be happy. It will be dull and dark and the best you’ll get is just a like plain, unexciting life. All his characters, either good or bad get a sad ending, so what the point with being good if no matter what kind of a person you are, things will go wrong. This is kind of a predestined idea in the way that Carver believes that people can think that they will be happy but no matter what, at the end, or at some point, something really bad and horrible will happen. There is no way you’ll live a completely happy life, no matter what, you are predestined to have things go wrong. You have faith in the fact that things will get better but the truth is fate has a different plan for you. People might get a climax moment when everything seems to be going well but there is no way of staying there, at one moment or another everything will fall apart and it will either stay good or get better in a small degree until things go wrong again. Happiness will never be something stable while sadness and grief and problems can be.
All of Carters stories have like a dull mood. In every situation something bad happens to his characters. In some stories, the situation worsens, in others it stays as bad and in others nothing really occurs with it. There are a few in which nothing bad happens and this is as close as one can get to a happy ending in one of Carvers stories. I wonder if this is his opinion of life, that no matter what, it will never be happy. It will be dull and dark and the best you’ll get is just a like plain, unexciting life. All his characters, either good or bad get a sad ending, so what the point with being good if no matter what kind of a person you are, things will go wrong. This is kind of a predestined idea in the way that Carver believes that people can think that they will be happy but no matter what, at the end, or at some point, something really bad and horrible will happen. There is no way you’ll live a completely happy life, no matter what, you are predestined to have things go wrong. You have faith in the fact that things will get better but the truth is fate has a different plan for you. People might get a climax moment when everything seems to be going well but there is no way of staying there, at one moment or another everything will fall apart and it will either stay good or get better in a small degree until things go wrong again. Happiness will never be something stable while sadness and grief and problems can be.
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