Raymond Carver

I really liked the works of Raymond Carver in the short stories “Neighbors” and “Cathedral.” I like the way he doesn’t sugar coat around in his story. He is not afraid to tell about things that happen in everyday life that most try to keep so hush, hush.

In his story “Neighbors” he shows what probably majority of us would do given the chance. If you had a friend that was away on vacation and gave you access to their home and private affairs you would be curious just to see how they lived. Especially if you felt that they were of better status than you. You would want to know their dirty little secrets so they could somehow be brought down to your level. I am not saying that every man would go into his friends house and put on his wife’s clothes but I do like that Raymond Carver had the nerve to actually put the shock and aw into this story like he did. My mouth dropped when I read this and never in my wildest dreams was I imagining him doing that when he went over for hours.  

I loved his use of minimalism but at the same time I was so frustrated of the unknowing. His story made my imagination awaken from years of being put aside for other things of importance. My mind raced trying to figure out the ending before the story had barely begun. Unlike other stories I didn’t figure out the ending until it was wrote out for me in black and white at the very end. In the other stories I read by other authors I knew the ending way before it presented itself. This kept me intrigued throughout the story.

In “Cathedral” his taboo of smoking marijuana was such a shock to me. Yet again my mouth dropped open when he pulled it out. Carver definitely knows how to shock is audience all the other stories we read were much more modest in their talk. Even though we experienced stories of death, murder, and rape the shock was not as apparent. You knew early on in the story the outcome before it was revealed. Even though this story was harder for me to understand and get the real meaning behind it I like his blunt honesty.

I hope in the future that I am able to read more of Raymond Carver’s works and have the same feelings I did with these to stories afterwards.