Sociology

Question

There should be no introduction or conclusion. Two pages per question.
Outline for each question:
-Claim
-Evidence: Find a Quote that supports the claim. There can be several quotes to be used. Throughout the book.
-Commentary/Analyses- Demonstrate through commentary that your Quotation is logically connected to what you claim.
The more quotations the better.

Answer

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, the Things they Carried by Tim O Brien

Question 1

Family dysfunction is the salient aspect in Raymond Carver stories. A dysfunctional family is one without a healthy and normal functioning. Such families are characterized by greed, neglect, abuse, apathy, financial instability as well as lack of emotional support. Relationships between parents, children and siblings are often strained in dysfunctional families. Raymond Carver captures instances of dysfunctionality system in families through character analysis and situational crisis. In Raymond’s short story, ‘What we talk about when we talk about love’ he demonstrates family dysfunctionality through the themes of struggle, infidelity, divorce, addiction, insecurity and miscommunication. The story introduces some couples, Mel and his wife Terry together with the newlyweds Nick and Laura. These individuals start a conversation that reveals that they all have different life struggles. Terry narrates her ordeal in the hands of her ex-husband who abused and tormented Terry. The short story further proves that there is a dysfunctional family and issues that drove Ed to suicide. Ed was a stalker who never knew his limits in marriage. Terry emphasizes that her ex-husband said that he loved her so much that he was willing to kill her (4). Domestic violence is one of the characteristics of family dysfunction since the perpetrator in most cases do not realize the harm caused to a victim. Beating Terry was an act of domestic violence in the pretense of love.

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One salient indication of family dysfunction in this narrative is divorce. Children from divorced parents normally end up suffering immensely. Separation and divorce undermine the relationships between parents and children. Kids of divorced parents receive little or no support from home compared with children from intact families. Children may as well lack emotional and financial assistance from either parents. Mel in this case suffers and resorts to alcoholism because he misses his family. He gets drunk thinking that it would help her talk better to his children. Insecurity is another indication of family dysfunction. Terry refuses to allow him call in fear that his husband’s ex-wife might pick the call. This alone shows that Terry is not guaranteed of a long lasting marriage and fears that Mel may reconcile with his former wife.

The short story, ‘Why don’t you dance’ illustrates family dysfunction through the themes of separation and uncertainty. The narrator struggles with alcohol, addiction and is left by his wife. The narrator is lonely and depressed; hence, seeking solace from alcohol and friends. The man is broke and decides to sell his furniture to earn a living.  Jacks girlfriend says to him, “you must be desperate or something”. The quote is enough evidence that Jack’s woman had noticed the problems emanating from his dysfunctional family life.

‘Mr. Coffe’ and ‘Mr. Fixit’ use conflict to suggest that family dysfunction is the order of the day. It is from the narrator that one realizes that his father had died of alcohol abuse. Alcoholism is one of the main things that result in family breakages and conflict. The narrator as well bumps into her mother making out with her boyfriend on the sofa. Such actions seems desperate and attempts to find peace and comfort in the arms of anyone. Craver uses alcohol as a symbolism in ‘Mr. Fixit’ to demonstrate the existing gaps in most families. Everyone in ‘Mr. Fixit’ experiences life challenges, which push him or her to alcohol. Ironically, drinking alcohol makes their problems worse than before.

Question 2

Communication is an important factor in the survival of families. People do not realize that proper communication channels are the most effective ways of showing affection or raising concerns in case of displeasure and disappointment. In most stories by Caver, poor communication is a major problem. In the ‘Mr. Fixit’ for instance, the narrator shows lack of good communication between him and his mother. The mother and son do not have meaningful talks to make the narrator understand that she wishes to move on after her husband’s death. The concept of communication in Carver’s short stories play significant roles in the existence of characters. ‘Why don’t you dance’, ‘Mr. Coffee’ and ‘The third thing that killed my father off’ are good examples of Carver’s short stories, which highlight the nature of communication among characters as well, as how it influences their lives.

The communication techniques play a huge part in forming the existence of characters. These stories show the results of ineffective communication and its influence on people. “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love,” seeks to highlight how couples communicate with one another yet there is no understanding whatsoever. People do not collaborate when conversing leaving no hope for a better future for such people. Nick tries to initiate a conversation and tries being affectionate to his wife who responds by pushing him away (Cage 78). On the other hand, Mel decides to talk to his children after getting drunk. Notably, there would not be a meaningful conversation between a drunk and sober person. Terry demonstrates fallacious thinking when he says that committing suicide is a proof of love since her former husband did that to show Terry his unending love. Such forms of communication do not build a person but can only drive them into making poor choices in life. Terry is as well insensitive in the way he talks to her husband and friends. She does not mind her choice of words and reveals unpleasant things on her past life. Mel yearns to speak to his children but cannot because of Terry who mentions, “It is not a good idea to talk to your youngsters”, to stop him. This scenario shows the power of communication in that the depressive mood of Mel could have stopped if he were allowed to talk to his kids.

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The short story, ‘Mr. Fix it’ as well depicts communication challenges. The narrator’s mother tries everything possible to talk to his son but he does not do anything to show care and concern to his mother. The narrator thinks that his mother had no right to move on after his father’s death. With good communication, the mother and son would have ironed out their differences and eliminated animosity that existed between the two.  A communication breakdown results in unhealthy family relations. The mother is ignored with no one to listen to her and show love and affection. Thus, she decides to have a boyfriend. Poor communication makes people lead a life of loneliness and hopelessness. Proper communication entails giving people an opportunity to express their opinions and talk about their grievances. Peace and comfort exist in families and relationships that embrace communication techniques. The narrator’s mother would have definitely felt better if his son responded to her concerns by encouraging and making her know that she is loved and appreciated. Communication is key to healthy and peaceful coexistence. Most people undermine the roles played by communication yet failure to communicate appropriately leads to unstable and dysfunctional relationships.

Question 3

The nineteenth century saw a rise in masters of literature such as Raymond Carver. He possesses exemplary artistic styles that make people admire his works. Raymond writings are perfect examples of minimalism. The concept of minimalism refers to a technique in literature characterized by simplicity. The rationale for minimalism is providing readers with little information so that they can find out more about a story. Carver uses simple sentence structures, which leave a lot for readers’ imagination. The power in Carver’s literature lies in his emphasis on minimalism that makes the readings more interesting. Raymond’s minimalism is evident as he uses few words as possible to emphasize his point.  The strategy results in a creative literature piece whereby vocabularies are employed in the stimulation of different communication forms and hidden meanings throughout the plots. Raymond’s short story ‘what we talk about when we talk about love’ has many minimalism elements. For instance, the narrator tells his story in a simple and easy to follow pattern and language. In addition, the same narrator withholds emotional and psychological details about his life experiences in the reading. In other cases, Mel is prevented from calling his children, making readers to wonder about what would happen next.

The main events and contexts of the story are straightforward and easily understood. There are languages with descriptive adjectives and adverbs that leave everyone in suspense. Other examples of minimalism are evident in the short story, ‘why don’t you dance’. In this story, Carver hardly mentions the narrator’s wife who left him. He does not explain why the wife deserted her husband. However, a reader may argue that the narrator was divorced because of his reckless life and alcoholism. These instances are proofs of minimalism in that Carver does not allow his audience to catch a glimpse of whatever will happen next; hence, making readers to constantly imagine about the future move.

Minimalism offers the use of self-evaluation of characters and explaining the crisis of communication throughout the narrative. Raymond Carver’s ‘Mr. Coffee’ and ‘Mr. Fixit’ also explore and analyze the use of minimalism in emphasizing the menace in people’s lives. Conflict is the tone used throughout the story.  The conflict is significant in creating a notion that people leave in a miserable and tough world full of sorrows and suffering. Carver uses this technique of minimalism to show people about the cruel nature of the world and that individuals should support one another during the hard times. The employed minimalist styled used in Raymond’s short story demonstrates the underlying reality that horrible things can happen to innocent people at any time. Misfortunes never choose a person based on social class, ethnicity or race. Anyone can fall victim of life adversities and that people share the same fate that is death. The use of death is a minimalism technique, which show that it hides many things to people.

Minimalism is an effective tool in communicating texts in the Carver’s short stories. It aids in critical thinking and analysis of real life situations. Raymond Carver did well by embracing minimalism technique in his writing styles. Minimalism requires an audience to allude and assemble images to make a complete and coherent story. Minimalism makes communication more interesting since it makes stories and scenes unpredictable. Readers would therefore be curious and strive to know more about the story. It is the best way of gaining an audience and making them understand you more. Minimalism serves the purpose of leaving readers without a clear picture; hence, allowing them to interpret a narrative as they please.

Question 4

O’Brien’s short stories highlight the dangers of war as well as the severe impacts that it leaves on people. The Vietnam War era soldiers had spiritual, emotional and intellectual burdens, which were demonstrated in different ways. ‘The things they carried’ shows that soldiers faced spiritual burdens alongside physical loads. The emotional strains consisted of longing, terror, grief and love. Every soldier had a specific want that he wished to achieve during the war. The soldiers not only had physical battles but also mental and emotional wars. They strive to make their lives better despite their painful life experiences. It is for these reasons that they carried certain things to survive emotionally, spiritually and physically. Henry Dobbins thought it wise to go to Vietnam with a pantyhose belonging to his girlfriend.Jimmy Cross also went with letters from Martha to help him hold onto the love they shared. The men lived in fear and never wanted to show their weaknesses to other cruel and arrogant soldiers. They did not wish for any soldier to find out about their vulnerabilities because that would expose them as easy targets to enemies. Thus, the young soldiers had to hide their true selves as a survival tactic.

The war aftermath saw these soldiers suffering from emotional and psychological burdens.Survivors carry confusion, grief and guilt whenever they go while others try to accept the past unpleasant experiences. The short story, ‘Love’ reveals a conversation between Jimmy Cross and O’Brien in which Jimmy says that Lavender’s death still disturbs him (O’Brien 26). Ted’s death left a gap in his heart, implying that he will always be emotionally disturbed. Norman Bowker on the other hand drives recklessly due to confusion and grief that he sustained from the war. The intellectual burden is evident in the story through O’Brien’s characters who engage in dangerous and absurd acts. Curt Lemon for example, decides to have his good tooth pulled out to ease the pain of having fainted during the war (O’brien 82). This is a sign that these soldiers suffered so much that they lost their rational judgements.

The stress emanating from war, the younger soldiers and being in a strange land created psychological dangers that heightened the risks of fighting.  Most of the soldiers do not exercise intelligence. A person like Jimmy joined the war out of peer pressure. He later became an uncertain leader who endangered the lives of soldiers in their camps. ‘The Things they carried’ articulates the spiritual and emotional needs of the soldiers in the wake of massive loss of lives. Some soldiers carried the New Testament hoping that the bible would bring them closer to God. The solders also found themselves battling with their inner selves and wondering why God had deserted them. They read their bibles and longed to get enough spiritual strength to persevere the humiliating experiences of war. The war would later push them to lose their spiritualties with some soldiers becoming cruel towards their fellow soldiers. It was a chaotic scenario since soldiers struggled to survive and at the same time suppressing their inner feelings of fear and regret.

Individuals often carry things with them such as spiritual, emotional and physical materials. Notably, anything a person carry’s brings out his or her qualities and defects. While some people might think that carrying those things are nothing but burdens, their owners view them as realities and significant objects to hold. The strains are embodied in O’Brien stories through his characters and their shortcomings. He takes readers through the horrible experiences by citing case studies and his own personal experiences to put his points across for an in-depth understanding. For example, his story tell that Jimmy Cross, the Lieutenant carried a pebble he received from Mary as well as her pictures and letters. Having them consoled him that he was closer to her beloved. Jimmy Cross was obsessed with Martha’s letters and could hide in a hole to console himself that all will be well (O’brien 1). Such an obsession made Jimmy Cross to lose his concentration; hence, compromising the safety of his subjects. Such a scenario therefore is proof that O’ Brien captured the struggles of the war soldiers perfectly.

Question 5

‘Paradise Lost’ is the profound theme in short stories by O’Brien. Most characters in his narratives enter the stories when naive and eventually lose their innocence. In ‘Things they Carried’ for instance, Tim O’Brien was chosen to participate in the war barely a month after his graduation. He was emotionally and physically unprepared to join the war. Tim was an innocent soul who never imagined that he could kill a human being at some point. Most O’Brien characters like himself were intelligent, young and peaceful youngsters who never imagined going to fight in a foreign nation. The characters took up the responsibilities of adults making them fail to enjoy their youths.

The young men carried with them things like bible, letters, pantyhose and many other tools for their comfort and solace. Little they know the sad reality that awaited them on the other side. Most of them lost their lives leaving survivors with devastating memories and guilt. O’Brien together with his fellow soldiers knew that death was far away from them only to face the reality of war and death. The theme of paradise lost is as well evident in the fact that joining the war made the boys lose their innocence and turn into cold-blooded murders. In other cases, the soldiers became cruel to one another, prompting some soldiers to hide their fears and vulnerabilities. The poor soldiers in ‘Things they carried’ had never carried guns before with an intention of killing another. Witnessing fellow soldiers blow up their comrades was unbelievable. They were all unready for the horrifying experiences, which unfolded before their eyes. Jim Cross joined the war out of peer pressure and would later regret; hence, holding on to the memory of the girl he loved. His innocence and unpreparedness make him uncertain in his decisions, as a result endangering his subordinates.

In other stories, Rat Kiley is scared of the disturbing experiences he witnessed in the course of the war. He later shoots himself on the leg to avoid being assigned out of his area. Rat’s actions are proofs of stolen innocence and the existence of the paradise lost theme. Soldiers equipped themselves for a war that they never knew what to expect. They thought that by carrying the necessary tools to keep them close to the people they loved and cherished then all would have been well. On the contrary, the young soldiers were surprised at the living and fighting conditions that awaited them. In ‘Lives of the dead’, O’Brien takes readers through episodes that demonstrate the extent of guilt and loss of innocence (O’Brien 213). The burdens and strains faced by the solders stemmed from the fact that they were inexperienced and emotionally unready for the war. Thus, O’Brien did well by capturing the innocent nature of the characters involved in the war.

Using the concept of ‘Paradise Lost’ in his stores was meant to educate his audience on the importance of saving the young from unfavorable life experiences. He as well intended to show the existing gaps in society as well as how people are never concerned by the welfare of youngsters. O’Brien employed the theme to appeal to his reader’s emotions so that they can be interested in reading the stories to the end. O’Brien caught his readers’ attention through the technique, making them empathize with the war victims. Most importantly, O’Brien wanted to communicate the brutal effects of war in a country.

Works Cited

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Raymond Carver’s” What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2016.

https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZEC2DAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT4&dq=what+we+talk+about+when+we+talk+about+love+by+Raymond+Carver&ots=h-uwi0a8mS&sig=hWzV0qv6DaMVtS9TUIJ_fuxtxlg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=what%20we%20talk%20about%20when%20we%20talk%20about%20love%20by%20Raymond%20Carver&f=false

O’brien, Tim. The things they carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Op6eKrkxPq4C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=what+they+carried+by+O%27brien&ots=8e-IFlxCf2&sig=SjrJjjUrmkrJNSwz74awa83u37k&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=what%20they%20carried%20by%20O’brien&f=false