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.