Historical Context

Minimalism

Raymond Carver's work aligns with the tradition of realism. In the 1970s, when he started publishing his short stories, the prevalent style in literary fiction was not realism but what was often termed metafiction. This complex, experimental form focused as much on the act of writing as on storytelling. Writers like Robert Coover, Thomas Pynchon, and Kurt Vonnegut were known for this postmodernist approach.

Carver, however, was not drawn to metafiction. Instead, he gravitated towards the earlier tradition of realism, which aimed to depict ordinary life as experienced by everyday people. Yet, Carver's realism differed significantly from its nineteenth-century counterpart, which featured detailed and lengthy descriptions of characters and settings.

Carver's work is closely associated with the literary movement known as minimalism, which became prominent in American short story writing during the late 1970s and 1980s. The term is somewhat contentious and is more applicable to Carver's earlier stories, including those in the collection What We Talk about When We Talk about Love (1981), rather than the more developed narratives in Cathedral (1983).

Minimalism is a stripped-down form of realism, often characterized more by what it omits than what it includes. John Barth, a novelist and short story writer known for his maximalist style, described minimalism in the New York Times Book Review in 1986 as "terse, oblique, realistic or hyperrealistic, slightly plotted, extrospective, cool-surfaced fiction" (quoted in Randolph Paul Runyon's Reading Raymond Carver). Arthur M. Saltzman, in Understanding Raymond Carver, defines minimalism as short fiction that features "flatness of narrative tone, extreme sparseness of story, an obsession with the drab and the quotidian, a general avoidance of extensive rumination on the page, and, in sum, a striking restraint in prose style."

The term minimalism has been applied to a diverse range of writers, including Frederick Barthelme, Ann Beattie, Bobbie Ann Mason, James Robison, Mary Robison, Tobias Wolff, and others. However, no writer labeled a minimalist has embraced the term to describe their work, and most deny the existence of a unified "minimalist school." Carver, often seen as a leading figure among minimalists, also rejected the label. In an interview reprinted in Reading Raymond Carver, he told William L. Stull:

I'll be glad to see the appellation [minimalism] fade so that writers can be talked about as writers and not lumped together in groups where they usually don't belong. It's a label, and labels are unattractive to the people attached to the labels.

In the same interview, Carver emphasized that writers labeled as minimalists were quite different from one another, which undermined the validity of the term.

By the late 1980s, the term "minimalist" had begun to fall out of favor in critical discussions, and there was even a backlash against it. This reaction was largely due to writers with less talent than Carver who mimicked the structure of his work without achieving the same impact. Some critics contended that stories adhering too strictly to a minimalist approach lacked emotional range and depth of characterization.

Style and Technique

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Setting and Atmosphere

In Raymond Carver's short story, the setting is deliberately nonspecific, creating a universal backdrop against which personal tragedy unfolds. With no name given to the town and no distinct time period established, the story exudes a timeless quality. Although published in 1983, it could easily transpire in any decade from the mid-20th century onward. The only temporal clue is Ann’s use of the word "Negroes" to describe a black man and woman, suggesting an era when this term was more common. This vagueness in setting serves a purpose. It compels readers to focus intensely on the personal drama at its heart, rather than being...

(This entire section contains 276 words.)

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distracted by external socio-political contexts. As Carver himself remarked, his narratives are microcosmic, revolving around deeply personal rather than broader societal issues.

Symbolism and Emotional Resonance

Symbolism plays a crucial role in the narrative, infusing the story with layers of meaning and emotional depth. The climactic scene, where the baker breaks and shares dark bread with Ann and Howard, evokes the Catholic Eucharist. This rite, in which bread symbolizes the body of Christ, imbues the moment with a sense of sacred communion. The rich descriptions of the bread’s aroma and taste, coupled with the act of consuming it, transform this simple meal into a profound gesture of shared solace and understanding. Following this act of communion, light imagery appears, with phrases like "It was like daylight under the fluorescent trays of light" and the "high, pale cast of light in the windows" suggesting the dawn of new hope. The interplay of light and darkness underscores the potential redemption and healing that can emerge even amidst deep sorrow.

Compare and Contrast

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In the vibrant world of music, some albums become more than just collections of songs; they transform into cultural milestones. One such album is "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, which not only redefined pop music but also set new standards for music videos and live performances. Released in 1982, "Thriller" remains the best-selling album of all time, with over 66 million copies sold worldwide.

The album's success can be attributed to its innovative production, which fused various musical styles, including pop, rock, and R&B. The collaboration between Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones resulted in a masterpiece that appealed to a broad audience. Furthermore, the groundbreaking music video for the title track "Thriller" revolutionized the industry, showcasing elaborate choreography and special effects, which were unprecedented at the time.

Michael Jackson's influence extended beyond music and into fashion, dance, and popular culture. His iconic style and dance moves, like the moonwalk, became synonymous with his brand and left a lasting impact on future generations of artists. "Thriller" is not just an album; it's a phenomenon that continues to inspire and entertain audiences around the globe.

1980s: Carver primarily focuses on characters from lower socio-economic backgrounds. During this decade, the wealth gap in the United States widens significantly. Homelessness emerges as a major social issue, fueled by a shortage of affordable housing, increasing unemployment, and cuts to public welfare programs under President Ronald Reagan's administration (1981–89).
Today: Homelessness continues to be a persistent social issue that successive governments struggle to address. Housing costs keep climbing, making it increasingly difficult for those earning minimum wage to afford housing. Accurate national data on homelessness in the United States is lacking. For example, in Los Angeles in 2005, approximately 85,000 people experienced homelessness daily, according to the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center. In New York, the Coalition for the Homeless reports that an estimated 37,000 people stay in shelters each night, marking the highest homeless count since the Great Depression.
1980s: In "A Small, Good Thing," the plot revolves around phone calls received by a couple. At that time, not everyone owned answering machines, and features like Caller ID did not exist. Cordless phones were introduced around 1980, but they had limited range and poor sound quality, making them susceptible to interception by other cordless phones. In 1986, the Federal Communications Commission allocated a different frequency for cordless phones, yet issues with range and sound quality persisted.
Today: Features like voicemail and call waiting offer various ways to receive calls and messages. Cellular or wireless phones are nearly as ubiquitous as traditional landlines, with millions of users. These devices offer numerous functions, such as storing information, creating to-do lists, managing appointments, sending or receiving emails, accessing news, and playing basic games. A Motorola-commissioned study suggests that cell phones are transforming how people live and work, providing a sense of personal empowerment. Young people especially use cell phones for text messaging, often employing "generation text," a language of abbreviations understood by youth worldwide.
1980s: The number of motor vehicle accident deaths is lower than in the 1970s. The death rate decreases further in the early years of the 1980s but begins to rise annually from 1985 to 1988. By 1988, motor vehicle crashes result in 48,900 fatalities.
Today: Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for individuals aged two to thirty-three (based on 2000 data). However, traffic fatalities are on the decline. In 2003, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled drops to a historic low of 1.48, with 42,643 fatalities. This reduction is largely due to increased seat belt usage and a decrease in alcohol-impaired driving.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Sources

Applefield, David, "Fiction and America: Raymond Carver," in Conversations with Raymond Carver, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull, University Press of Mississippi, 1990, p. 207. Originally published in Frank: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing & Art, No. 8-9, Winter 1987–1988.

Carver, Raymond, "The Bath," in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Knopf, 1981, pp. 47-56.

――――――, "A Small, Good Thing," in Cathedral, Knopf, 1983, pp. 59-89.

Howe, Irving, "Stories of Our Loneliness," in New York Times Book Review, September 11, 1983, p. 43.

McCaffery, Larry, and Sinda Gregory, "An Interview with Raymond Carver," in Conversations with Raymond Carver, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull, University Press of Mississippi, 1990, p. 102. Originally published in Alive and Writing: Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s, University of Illinois Press, 1987.

Runyon, Randolph Paul, Reading Raymond Carver, Syracuse University Press, 1992, p. 3.

Saltzman, Arthur M., Understanding Raymond Carver, University of South Carolina Press, 1988, p. 4.

Shute, Kathleen WestFall, "Finding the Words: The Struggle for Salvation in the Fiction of Raymond Carver," in Hollins Critic, Vol. 24, No. 5, December 1987, pp. 1-10.

Stull, William, "Beyond Hopelessville: Another Side of Raymond Carver," in Philological Quarterly, Vol. 64, 1985, p. 11.

――――――, "Matters of Life and Death," in Conversations with Raymond Carver, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull, University Press of Mississippi, 1990, p. 185. Originally published in The Bloomsbury Review, January/February 1988.

Wickenden, Dorothy, "Old Darkness, New Light," in New Republic, Vol. 189, November 14, 1983, p. 38.