Popular Mechanics Literary Analysis

 Kristen Cruz

Patrick Anderson

ENC1102

10 February 2017

Literary Analysis #2

“Popular Mechanics” Literary Analysis

        Raymond Carver wrote the short story “Popular Mechanics” in 1981. During his early years, Carter got married and during this time, in order to support his family, he worked several jobs. Causing a strain on his domestic life after several years, the relationship ended in divorce. Following his college years at Humboldt State College, he taught at numerous universities and during which his collection of stories where written. His early years is seen to influence the elements he uses in this story in particular due to the nature of the character’s volatile relationship. Even though “Popular Mechanics” was a very short story, Carver was able to describe a severe family issue with an unexpected ending.  By providing a background of Carver’s personal life, this gives readers a better perspective on how his story was created. The author effectively incorporates plot, symbolism and setting into his writing to gives the reader a better understanding of the conflict between the characters in the hostile relationship.  

        The story begins with a descriptive exposition, which provides background information in the situation of the couple arguing, introduces the main characters and describes a little bit of the setting. The couple fighting over the baby gives readers a moment of great tension. From the first few lines, Carver characterizes both characters as antagonists, as they are yelling and fighting over first the picture of the baby and the baby itself. As the plot develops, the conflict becomes the central focus and the parents tug on the baby for control. As soon as the parents each had a hold of the baby, and were tugging, one can only assume why at the ending of the story was that there was no more issue. This gave readers a free mind into wondering what happened to the baby.  Using the element of plot in his story, Carver creates a conflict which is abruptly but mysteriously “decided” at the end of the story when the father and mother are both tugging on the baby, both pulling for control of the child. The story ends with the line, “In this manner, the issue was decided” regarding who gets to keep the baby (Carver, 270), alluding to a conclusion that is never explicitly stated.

        The baby symbolizes the physical connection between the couple’s relationship. The baby is a contextual symbol that maintains its literal significance throughout the story while suggesting other meanings. It was obvious the couple were in a rough patch and that they both wanted to get out of the relationship. Instead of just leaving with his stuff, the man was determined to take the baby with him and the woman equally determined to not let that happen. It seems from the plot that the couple sustained in the relationship merely for the sake of the baby, so it was always a back and forth argument between the two of them. There was nothing more that connected them by the end of the story when the baby is assumed to be dead. Without the baby, the couple has nothing else that would force them to be connected. This would allow them to both go their separate ways.

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