Critical Analysis Of Looking For Business Essay

, Research Paper

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I analysis my own story I must first sum up what I feel Raymond Carver is

trying to achieve in his stories. 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. ??????????? However in my story I used similar

writing styles to Carver, but instead of having an event which crushes the

characters lives I did the opposite. In my story Sarah?s life is seemingly

tedious and monotonous and there is much sympathy for the predicament that she

is in, living alone, hardly any money, and forced to prostitution to keep her

going. I tired to convey this in the description of her flat by using words

such as ?musty? and ?malodorous?. However her life is turned upside down by one

man, she doesn?t know how (neither does the reader, as I try to keep them

guessing, leaving it open, very much Carver?s style). However it doesn?t matter

how, all that is important is that Sarah has been able to draw some kind of

inspiration and happiness out of another human being. Happiness is something

that people very much take for granted, however Sarah has not had much of it,

and when it comes along she treasures it, for it is precious as she does not

know how long it is going to last. Overall I have used similar writing styles

to Carver, detached and colloquial and I have used a theme, which runs through

many of Carvers stories, sex. ??????????? Sex is

paramount in many of Carver?s stories. It plays a large part in ?Neighbours,?

and also, ?They?re not your Husband.? So I suppose that my story could be

compared to those. However the story which I think mine is most similar to is

?A Small, Good, thing.? Both my story and this one have people who are

struggling in life, one couple hit by the death of their son and the other by

the life they are forced to live. However at the end the couple in,?A small,

good, thing,? and Sarah in ?Looking for Business,? are able to draw comfort,

relief and most of all contentment out of another person. I think that this can

act to reinforce mankind?s belief in human nature and that one person can help

another in fulfilling any gaps that may be missing in their lives ???????????