Topics for Further Study
Critics often comment on the influence Ernest Hemingway had on Raymond Carver. Read several stories by each writer. How are their works alike? How are they different? Consider such items as dialogue, detail, characterization, and plot.
Find several pictures of different cathedrals and study them carefully. Then shut your eyes and try to draw one of the cathedrals. How close is your rendition? How is the idea of the cathedral you have in your mind different or like the drawing you make? What did you "see" when you had your eyes closed?
Try to find several accounts written by blind people about how they "see" the world. If possible, conduct an interview with a blind person and try to describe something that you see. Does doing this change the way you see the object? If so, why do you think the change occurred?
Raymond Carver's work seems to change between the stories found in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? and those found in Cathedral. Read several stories from each. What differences do you detect? What might account for the change in Carver's style?
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