You have read Cathedral, the poem Photograph of My Father in his 22nd Year and the memoir piece that includes that poem.
What themes does Carver announce in these pieces? How might we expect that he enlarge (beyond mere stereotype) our understanding of a certain part of American culture?
What parts of each piece of writing (story, essay, poem) communicate most clearly to you? Just begin with a short quote and then tell how that quote means something to you.
Then go the blog and write in your response. Create about 300 words worth of writing. Your audience is your peer group, plus teachers and other smart folks who like to learn about writers and writing. So pay attention to grammar and spelling. But the most important part is the quality of your ideas, the sincerity of your response. This is a Pass/Fail grade. No late work, no excuses.
(Edward Michaud) The main theme of the Poem "Photograph of My Father in his twenty-second" is based around the time of depression. Many people were struck with a depletion of money and most importantly, an increasing number of people drinking. Many people work very hard in order to get enough money to make a living for themselves and their family. "All his life my father wanted to be bold." Almost everyone in the United States wanted to be so proud and so bold and be the best above everyone else. The problem is that it is hard and only a selective few are allowed to be in the higher class. Not everyone can be in the upper class and there are those who were never meant to be in the upper class to begin with. There are some who think that being in the lower class would be a lot more free than being stuck with a bunch of high classed snobs. The point is, not everyone can be what they want, or rather, what they dream to be. Many people would do things they may not even dream of doing. It is such a shame how not a lot of people think that it is the only way how America works. There would be several people who are rich and several more who are poor. We all have a place in this world and we should fulfill it, rather than trying to be something that will make us well liked but not feel comfortable. We should strive to live our lives to the fullest we can. Lives can be better than how they once were, jobs can be done correctly, and most importantly, everyone will have the time to spend time with their friends and family. It is very unlikely that will happen soon, but maybe one day in the near-future, it will.
ReplyDelete(Dennis Counihan) The story “MY Father’s Life” is based around the lie of two main characters, Clevie Raymond Carver and Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. The first half of the story I about how much the boy doesn’t want to be like his father and all the bad things his father has done throughout his life. It talks about how he was an alcoholic and how he was never faithful to his wife who was always faithful to him. The mention how he can never manage to save up any money it’s as if the money is burning a hole in his pocket. Then it moves on later in life when his son becomes to despise him for what he has done. So the son tries to move on with his life but he finds that as he gets older he becomes more like his father than he knew or wished to be. Then at the end of the story the father dies and the boy then becomes to admire and respect his father for what he was. Even his wife whom the man cheated on many times even speaks kindly of him in his death. The son mentions how there is stuff he never had the chance to say to his father that he wished he had. To me this story is telling you that you should always be grateful for what you have and do your best to look past the bad and into the good because what you hate about somebody will eventually be gone when they die but so will what you love about someone.
ReplyDeleteBlake Kalan)
ReplyDelete"He Was Drunk". This seemed to be happening a lot around this period of time( Great Depression). People turned to alcohol many times thinking it would help them out. Most of the time it just leads to more problems. It was a common way for people to "drown their sorrows". This usually leads to problems with the family and just creates a worse situation. Getting to what it means to me.
No one in my immediate family has trouble with alcohol but a few of my relatives do, like my uncles and cousins. they have had issues with getting drunk a lot. It caused problems with his marriage and at that time he had a little girl who was about 3 years old and a baby on the way. They were on the verge of splitting up, nut he got his act together. This is obviously relevant to the quote and it means something to me because it dealt with my family. But in the period of the Great Depression their were worse problems.
(Conrad Ezequiel Tebyanian-Haro) Raymond Carver mainly expresses this theme of irritation through male characters. In “Cathedral” Robert, the husband and main character, in annoyed that her wife is bringing an unknown person into his house. Although he isn’t directly hostile toward the blind man he shies away from him. In the memoir writing Raymond Carver Sr. is portrayed as a drunk man who cant keep a stable relationship with anyone in his family because of his alcoholism. Which also brings up the theme of alcoholism. Both Robert and Carver Sr. drink any type of alcohol like it was water. For Robert it was casual or it just wasn’t elaborated on enough. Carver Sr. drank because he had nothing. His job paid little, he didn’t have a girl to love, he had nothing. During the 220’s everyone struggled for any job. Every American wanted to be a part of something big. As such there were always failure’s such as Carver’s father who couldn’t find a well paying job and thus led to his depression and then drinking.
ReplyDeleteThere is a subtle hint of the theme of peace in both stories. In “Cathedral” it’s the “aura” of peacefulness a cathedral radiates when inside. In the memoir Carver Jr. describes the month if June as a happy time. During the month of June was a happy time because of Carver Jr’s marriage, graduation, summer nights, and so on. The one thing that brought that down was the passing of his father. The beginning of the poem starts with the word “October”. Why? Carver Jr. didn’t want a constant remembrance of his father’s death every year when the month of June was a happy time for him.
No part of either stories communicate, relate, or otherwise with me. I’ve honestly never been ashamed of my parents. Poverty doesn’t affect the way I think or act. My father wasn’t a drunk and my mother didn’t marry the first man she saw.
(Conor Powers) In “My Father’s Life”, Raymond Carvers family is a poor American working lass family. His family moved around a lot to find better work and perhaps to try to run away from their problems. When Raymond’s family moves Chester, he says, “but I think, in the main, that my dad had simply grown restless and wanted to try his luck elsewhere”. His dad was an alcoholic and had many problems with his family and his life. Carver’s message in this story is the hardship a poor working class family faces. His parents almost got a divorce, his dad was a drunk and they were constantly moving around. These challenges are all the same for any working class family. In Carver’s poem he describes a picture of his dad. He says, “All his life my father wanted to be bold”. Carver is saying that his dad always tried to do the right thing and support his family. However, his drinking and mental break down set him back and he almost lost his family. This poem is also about the hardships faced by poor American working class families. Carver loved his dad and respected him for who he was. In the essay “Cathedral” a blind man comes to visit a friend and her husband. The husband is not too excited to have a blind man coming to stay at his house but he agrees to do it for his wife. The blind man represents the hardships faced by poor working class Americans. The wife’s husband does not think much of him but the blind man is just as capable as he is. At one point the blind man has the wife’s husband draw a cathedral with his eyes closed. This gives him a chance to feel how the blind man feels.
ReplyDelete(Joseph Bunger)
ReplyDeleteIn these two writings by Raymond Carver, both of the main characters in each deal with some type of substance abuse. In "Cathedral" the narrator is the main character whose addiction seems to be drugs. In "My Father's Life" the main character, Clevie Raymond Carver, suffers from a common addiction in the Great Depression, alcoholism. Both main characters seem to use their addictions to help them deal with and forget their problems.
"He was a drunk." This was one of the quotes that stuck out to me the most. To me it shows how Carvers's father would deal with his times of troubles. During the Great Depression, most people were out of work and times were tough for all, so they would look for a way out which more often than not was alcohol. I feel like we can all relate to this quote because people still turn to alcohol and other drugs today to try an escape their troubles. Just like the Great Depression, now a days people are still struggling to find and keep a job to help support and provide for their families.
Carver's father not only had a tough time keeping a job, but he also had a tough time remaining faithful to his wife and family. I think a factor in this can be partially be explained by his alcoholism.
(Elliot Kooden) “ Somehow he got out of there” This quote talks about how Raymond Carvers dad, Clevie Raymond Carver had been to a psychiatrist who asked him a couple of questions such as who is the President and Clevie didn’t know the answer. So the psychiatrist put him on the fifth floor of the Valley Memorial Hospital and began giving him electroshock treatment. This hospital is ironic because it is the same hospital that Raymond Carver had his first kid. There room was one floor down from his dad so right after the birth process he went and told his dad. They let him in through a steel door to see his dad. He told his dad that he was a grandfather. His dad waited a minute then said that he felt like a grandfather and that was it, no smile or anything. Raymond went a hugged his dad and began to cry. Raymond Carver was amazed that his dad was able to get out of the hospital because of all of the things his father had done in the past. His dad was a major alcoholic all throughout his life. His dad told him that he was going to live with his aunt for a while. He didn’t know what he did to deserve this and didn’t want to go live with his aunt. This is all because of his dads drinking problem. His mom would sometimes pour out his dad’s whiskey or pour half of it out and fill it up with water. The night he died he actually finished off a bottle of whiskey. She said she found the bottle of whiskey in the garbage near the bottom a day later. What I take out of the story “My Father’s Life” is that you should be thankful for what you have and know that you’re parents do everything to help you.
ReplyDeleteIn My Father’s Life I believe the quote “He was drunk,” relates to me and it definitely jumps out at me the most. A member of my family was an alcoholic until she passed away. This relates to me because whenever her name was brought up it was about something she had done while she was drunk. It caused tremendous pain on my family, especially my grandfather and my mother. She made some bad mistakes in her day and a lot of them were caused because of the massive amounts of alcohol she used to drink on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteIn Carver’s poem Photograph of my Father in His Twenty Second Year the quote “In jeans and flannel shirt, he leans against the front fender of a 1934 Ford,” relates to me perfectly. This quote explains my grandfather perfectly. My grandfather passed away a few years ago but a lot of what I remember from my younger days was him in his 1976 red Ford. Whenever I think of him I think of that truck. He loved to take me to the fishing pond in it. He would sit there and either lean on it or sit on the tailgate and watch me fish for hours on end. In Carver’s short story “Cathedral” the thing that relates to me is how the narrator’s wife helped out the blind man who is less fortunate. I can relate to this because I have helped out the less fortunate. My mother is a very nice caring person and likes to help people in any way she can. A couple of years ago she got my family to make Christmas cards for the poor. I mean I was not too excited for it because I was a kid but when it was all over I was glad I did it.
(Nicholas Mock) In carvers writings alcohol abuse and depression are major motifs of interest. In all three writings the characters cope with their depression with alcohol. In cathedral the husband drinks to calm his nerves and drift away into his TV shows. In both my father’s life and photograph of my father, the narrator’s father uses alcohol as an outlet to cope with their failures in life. The working class of America is targeted in these three pieces. Carver shows the negative sides of the working class individuals in that he shows their weakness caused by failures. Each character is portrayed as only capable of maintaining a small job. In portraying these negatives, Carver shows that not all people are able to obtain the American dream and instead fall into a disarray of immoral actions. The quote that most clearly shows this degradation of ideals is located in My Fathers Life, “I guess for a moment I didn’t want to recognize him”. In this quote the narrator is speaking about his encounter with his father. Out of context one could assume that the narrator is ashamed of his father. That something has caused bitterness between the two. In context however, it becomes clear that the father is a hardworking man who has achieved very little in life and copes with his depression through alcohol. This example is shown time after time in Carver’s writings. Carver stresses the hardships that the working class faces in its struggles throughout American history.
ReplyDelete(Matt Johnson)
ReplyDeleteAlcoholism is one of the main themes in both Raymond Carvers stories “My Fathers Life” and “Cathedral.” The addiction seems to be the cause of the other problems in the stories as well like poverty, depression, and violence. Some people believe that the alcoholism is caused by the depression and poverty, but others thing it is because of that drinking that these things occurred. In both stories the character seems to be trying to make an escape from something in the world be substance abuse. Part of “My Fathers Life” was based in The Great Depression when many people where poor and without jobs. In this time many turned to other means of getting by, like drinking. “He was a drunk” is a quote from the story that reveals this to the reader. In the Cathedral the main character drinks so that he can pass time and calm his nerves. The mans wife asks him if he was drunk after he asked if the blind man coming to stay with him was negro. This makes it sound like this question was asked a lot in the house hold. This says a lot about the culture in America. If People in America have to drink so that they can calm down or rest their minds this is not good. It sets a stereotype on Americans. Both stories show how even in different time periods people will use a scapegoat, in this case alcohol, to hide from there real lives and face the problems presented to them. In the end this only causes more problems and can ruin relationships and how you see the world. Carver shows in these stories that it is better to face your problems head on whether is a job or relationships or whatever, then to hide behind another temporary relief because in the end it will always come back to bite you in the ass.
(Barron Brantley)For Raymond Carver, alcohol plays a tremendous theme in his stories. In the story called Cathedral, the husband comes home one night drunk after his wife takes in a blind man she reads things to. Raymond knew from first hand experience what a drunk is like. His father had a severe drinking problem and usually came home drunk. He would get so bad, that his wife had to lock the doors to prevent him from coming in the house. On one occasion he busted a window to get into the home, but his wife had hit him in the head with a rolling pin so hard, that he became unconscious on the front lawn. I don't have anyone in my family that is an alcholic like Raymond's dad, but there are people in my family who have an occasional drink every now and then.
ReplyDeleteHis father behaves like a stereotypical working class man. The stereotype of a working class man is one who drinks alot and moves constantley from job to job. Raymond uses the theme of alcoholism to describe Robert. He is ashamed of his father because of his behavior when he has been drinking. It was not until his father's death that he realized that he actually looks up to and respects his dad, despite the kind of things he has done to his family. I do have some very hard working people in my family, and I respect the work they do. Sometimes their hard work goes unnoticed or is unapprecciated by other people, but I do notice their work and I greatly appreciate it, no matter who or what it is for.
In his poem Photograph Of My Father In His Twenty Second Year, Raymond Carver describes a picture of his father as a young man at first, then he transcends to his death. He tells his father in the poem that he can not hold his liquor either and that he does not know places to fish. This shows that his dad did not spend much time with him as a child, or at all for that matter. It shows that the time they did spend together was not filled with happy memories. Unlike Raymond, my father and I have spent alot of quality father son time together. He has taken me to do many fun things, but there was always a lesson in doing so. By doing these things with my dad, I see the lessons in life that he has told me about on things that seem like they do not have a lesson in them other than the fact that they are fun. I now know how to appreciate these things that perhaps I did not at the time.
(Jarrod Drown) A common theme that I have noticed in some of Raymond Carvers work is the theme of Substance abuse. In “Cathedral”, the main character was going through a substance abuse and it caused a lot of tension between the man and his wife. “My Father’s Life”, also gives us the theme by how Raymond Carver talks us the readers about his own father and that he has his problem with substance abuse. That it took a toll on the family for sure and that it really affected the way Raymond grew up by the surroundings he was put in because of his father’s choices. Because the idea of someone in your family having a problem with substances is something that I can relate to with my own family being that two of my uncles had a problem with alcohol. That I have seen first the stresses it can have on a family, and the damage it can cause if not corrected or at least kept under check by someone. We know that in “My Father’s Life” that it even says that “he was a drunk” from his moms own accord, and in cathedral there is multiple mentioning’s of the husband having a problem with substance abuse. It showed us that nothing good can come from these types of problems, only stress and more problems in a marriage. That seeing my family even having an issue with my dad smoking can cause problems which shows no matter the severity of the substance it all still cause problems in a family that doesn’t need to be there and easily avoided. However Carver also shows that with these bad situations there is also good that can come out of these miserable situations. One being that the kids of the people with the problem can see that they have messed up and can learn not to make the same mistakes. Than to use them in way to better themselves and achieve greater than their parents have.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest themes in both of these poems is substance abuse. In “The Cathedral” it appears to be some kind of drug and in “My Fathers Life” it is alcoholism. In the time of the great depression and just after abuse of all sorts was very common. Everyone would try to forget the bad times just like Clevie Raymond Carter did. This is one of the problems that made the depression as tragic as it was. At the time few people realized they were fueling the fire that was the depression by drinking their problems away. This is enlarges our understanding of this part of American culture by giving us insight on what being in his social status at his time period. The only way to broaden our understanding of this part of American culture is by listening to people who lived it.
ReplyDelete“Steady work was meaningful work.” C.R’s wife said this to their son when they were discussing all of his dad’s jobs. This was everyone’s mind set around the time of the great depression. The only problem with this is that with the alcoholism it is hard to work a steady job. This is what happened to C.R later down the road. After he was sick he found it hard to do simple tasks at the sawmill, things that would’ve been easy to him if his body weren’t trying to recover from an infection and years of alcohol abuse. This quote stood out to me because going through the recession that we are tying to recover from now we could relate easily. Recently, work has been hard to come which is why I feel we could all relate to this quote.
(Zachary Hopkinson)In "My Fathers life", the quote "he was drunk" can relate to me and my family. When i was younger, one of my aunts was a really bad alcoholic, and worried a lot of people in my family. She went to classes, and has now been sober for about five years. When she was an alcoholic, she really affected my mom. When my mom was younger, she always looked up to her. This also affected me, because when i was younger she would come around me, and it would scare me because i was young and i had no idea what to do. She made many bad mistakes and has learned from them and become a better person.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote from "My Fathers Life" is,"I remember my mother pouring his whiskey down the sink". This also has a lot to do with me in life. The main reason i can relate to this is because we have a family friend who can get out of hand when they are drunk. Once they get to this point, you have to stop them some way, and this is the only way we know how. He doesnt realize it, because he is drunk, but he is affecting everyone around him, and it can be embarrasing at times. The best way my family deals with problems like these is to no let them have alcohol, or not invite them at all, which my family doesnt like doing. I've always had to grow up around this and it has always affected me some way through out the years, but i have overcome these problems.
If these quotes have taught me anything, it is how to make the right decision. If you make the right decisions, good things usually happen to you,and that your choices can affect everyone around you.
(Charles Stewart) In "My Father's Life" alcoholism and how dangerous it is is one of the main themes in the story. In this story a boy , Raymond Clevie Carver Jr., is raised by a poor family and an alcoholic father. Through his life he has moved around from town to town with his father hoping that this new town would be different. This is the first example of how his father always choose to run away from life instead of face it head on. One quote that seems to sum up the entire story is "everybody was better off than my dad". This is true even though he worked just as much as some of the other people because as they say in the story "Money burned a hole in his pocket." This is because every time he would receive some money he would go and spend it all on alcohol. This is one of the reasons alcoholism is so dangerous and hard to get out of because once you are an alcoholic it causes a troubling effect. You drink in order to drown your sorrows and to feel better about your life but once the buzz wears off you are left in the same state as before just without as much money. Then the poorer you get the worse you feel making you want to drink more therefore a never ending cycle. However the way that he lived his life it was obvious that nothing was going to change because he could never face the facts. He would always just decide to move hoping that something would be different but it never was. This was something his father never quite understood and continued to go down this path until the day that he died.
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ReplyDelete“He’s happier where he is now” was what a woman told Raymond Jr. during his Fathers funeral. This quote has a strong meaning referring to the struggles Raymond Sr. dealt with during his entire life and how they are now gone. Raymond Sr. was a hardworking man who bounced around from job to job trying to just get by for his family. Though he was a hardworking man he wasn’t perfect, he was human. Raymond Sr. had a major alcohol addiction and was unfaithful to his wife. Due to his severe alcoholism Raymond Jr. witnessed many events that happened around his family such as the time his father was hit in the head with a colander or the time his father collapsed on the job and went to the hospital. All these events were crucial to Raymond Jr. growing up becoming who he is as an individual. I believe the theme in Raymond Carver’s “My Father’s Life” is Alcohol and its ability to affect not only the one who has an addiction but those close to the individual as well. The Depression era was a difficult time and affected many people in the country. People turned to alcohol to help them forget about the rough times going on at the time. Carver wants us to understand that the American culture then wasn’t about having a big house, fancy cars, or the next Iphone. It was about going from job to job to be able to just get by and put food on the table. This story doesn’t really communicate to me but it does give me a good understanding of the affects alcoholism can have on a family. Raymond Sr. wanted to do the best for his family but his severe alcoholism messed a lot of things in his life up. Raymond Jr. didn’t have much of a father because of him being at work or drunk. He must continue on with his life and father his children knowing not to do the same mistakes his father did.
ReplyDelete(Thacker King)question 1: In all three of these peices of writing we see major sterotyping coming into play.For example in "The Cathedral" we see a women's husband not liking the idea of meeting her blind friend that she has known for many years. He states that he doesn't want to meet him and that he is even "creepy". We see later that once he finally gets to know the blind man he realizes he is just a normal guy living with this everyday struggle in his life. In "My Father's Life" I feel like the boy and mother stereotype the boy's father for his drinking problems but that later the boy finds out that this came from stress in this awful time of depression. The boy even relates to this problem later in the story. In the poem I feel that the boy is letting out some regrets he holds about his father. In the story he sais October instead of June I think because he doesn't want to think about it when all the other good things are happening in his life such as his child's birthday or his wedding anniversary.
ReplyDeleteRaymond Carver's main theme is the importance of alcohol in a man's life that is a blue-collar worker. In the My Father's Life piece, Raymond Carver is a hard-working man that can never find a steady job, so he resorts to traveling around the country to find any work he can. " I didn't recognize him immediately. I guess for a moment I didn't want to recognize him." This is a quote, from My Father's Life that Raymond Carver Jr. is commenting on his father who is now, a drunk that has gone over the edge. Raymond Carver has now, destroyed his public image and has made his son lose all respect for him. Raymond Jr. has now seen his father go from the proud hard-working man to a drunk that has nothing to offer anymore. Alcohol, has bewitched Raymond Sr. into believing that he can't show his face around his family anymore because he is too embarrassed. This has made Raymond Jr. distort the actual reality of his father into an unknown figure who has a drinking problem. This effects Raymond Jr. growing up in a world where his own father has succumbed to a drinking problem that was a great man to begin with. Earlier, his mother use to lock the doors in the house and hit him in the head and knocked him out with force proving that she wouldn't allow it. Raymond Jr. would also have to disown his father until the drinking problems subsided. The harsh reality of alcohol taking one of his own close family member is a disheartening thing and destroys his relationship with his father for a while. This causes Raymond Jr. to grow up through out most of his life without a father figure. Whether his father was off working or, being drunk he was not there for Raymond Jr. His father didn't realize it that his drinking problem was not only effecting him but his wife and his own son. When Raymond Jr. visited his father his father, would hardly ever say anything, because of maybe severe depression or that he felt like he failed his son. The only good that may come out of this situation is that Raymond Carver Jr. will have a good example of why not to drink, because he doesn't want his kids to have the same thing happen to them.
ReplyDelete(Brandon Campbell) The main theme in all the Raymond Carver’s pieces is alcoholism which ends up leading to other problems. In “Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year” his father’s alcoholism during his childhood years makes him have little abandonment issues that I saw at the time of his father’s death especially in the poem. Then in “The Cathedral” and “My Father’s Life”, alcohol is an escape from the problems of the world. Carver also uses the middle class and its stereotypes to really give us insight about his life and the American culture.
ReplyDeleteThe quote that speaks to me the most in these pieces is “Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can’t hold my liquor either and don’t even know the places to fish.” More towards the end of this poem Raymond Carver show the more sour side to his and his father’s relationship. Here I see that Raymond Carver craved for more of a father figure in his life and I understand that between the drinking and either trying to find a job or working a job his father was not there all the time.
Then in “My Father’s Life” the quote “it was during this period that I remember my dad taking me onto the bedroom, sitting me down on the bed, and telling me that I might have to go live with my Aunt LaVon for a while.” It appealed to me because that really shows you the situation the family’s in. I know the feeling of this conversion and how scary and how easy it is to believe it’s your fault especially being told at a young age.
(Thacker King) question 2: In "My Father's Life", one of the father's cousins was quoted saying "we all miss him". This relates to me in a since that i have lost many family members and friends throughout my life and something simple like this said is so true. You do miss your lost ones and it is always a sad time in your life when someone you love dies. In "The Cathedral": "I'm not doing so good am I?" this is humorous to me because I have a cousin that is always asking questions like this. I think he is just a little insecure and never wants to do anything wrong.In the poem: "in jeans and flannel shirt,he leans against the front fender of a 1934 Ford." This is also humorous to me because I have a uncle that every time we visit he is doing this exact thing. I thought that this was very ironic and funny.
ReplyDeleteThe two writings, “Cathedral” and “Photograph of My Father in his Twenty-Second Year” by Raymond Carver present two flawed characters. They are fighting the addiction to either drugs or alcohol. These vices limit the characters from progressing forward. The poem communicates most clearly the relationship between father and son. As we grow up we want to be like our parents but there comes a time where we realize they are not perfect. We look at them differently because we know they had to make decisions in life that affected the whole family. “Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either and don't even know the places to fish.” This father and his son have a good relationship. The son says that he loves his father and wants to be like him. I think the son has made the connection that his father is a man who may not be perfect but understands the influence his father has had on him. He acknowledges his fathers weakness which is drinking by saying he can not hold “his liquor” The son realizes that his father has life experiences when he says I do not even know places to fish. The “places” are the experiences his father has in life. The son begins to appreciate that he lacks life experiences. During the Great Depression, father is mainly looking for work and didn’t have time to spend with his son. The part comes where he wants to thank his father because he knows his father has lead by example. The ending shows that he is saying that his father wasn’t perfect and didn’t make all the right decision but he tried. Sometimes that is the most important part is trying to make the right decisions.
ReplyDeleteSandro LeGrand
ReplyDeleteSenior comp
March 13, 2012
Raymond Carver uses moving as a metaphor in both stories to show that his family was never really stable. When telling of his past, he writes about how his father was constantly moving around trying to find work, and how his family tagged along for the ride. He was born in Oregon then moved to Washington, and lived there while his father looked for work. The state of Washington is also present in story “The Cathedral”. The wife of the main character lives in Seattle and this is also where she meets the blind man. The story also uses moving as a way to show that things are not perfect. She was an Air force wife before meeting her present husband. Even when they do end up living in one place there are still problems with the marriage. The idea of being transient is also present in Carver’s essay “My Father’s Life”, and it is linked with emotional problems. Even though Carver meets his wife and has a home he still has problems with his father.
Another specific subject that is present in both of Carver’s essays is the trouble of being accepted. He writes about his wish that he and his father could have been closer. Carver saw his father as this man who would drink and then go off to work, and was never emotionally available to him as a real father. The main character in “The Cathedral” also has a very hard time accepting the blind man as a friend. He is very skeptical of blind people and it’s only when he spends time with the man that he learns to be friends with him. Carver also has the same type of experience with his father as he gets old and he has to take care of him. He has to learn how to appreciate someone who really never really showed any emotion towards him. This is hard for him. Carver defiantly puts himself into his own stories.
(Matthew Freedman)
ReplyDeleteIn these pieces, Carver writes about blue collar life and the struggles that the poorer people face, particularly with alcohol. Alcoholism and its effects is a theme found in "Cathedral," My Father's Life," and "Photographs of My Father in his Twenty Second Year." In "My Father's Life," the reader learns that Carver's mother first met his father when he was drunk, coming out of a tavern. Carver recalls one night when his father came home drunk and his mom knocked him out with a colander. He also talks about how his mom would pour his dad's whiskey out or water it down.
In "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year," Carver describes his father as holding perch in one hand and a beer in the other. This seems to be the way his father lived, with alcohol close by all the time. Even though Carver tasted the whiskey and could not understand how anyone could drink it, we learn in "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year," that he has followed in his father's footsteps and has an alcohol problem. He writes, "Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can't hold my liquor either..."
In "Cathedral," the characters are drinking alcohol throughout the story. When the narrator's wife goes to pick the blind man up from the train station, the narrator fixes himself a drink. When the blind man arrives, he fixes scotch drinks for himself, his wife and the blind man. They drink throughout the story. This seems to help the narrator become less inhibited and less discriminatory towards the blind man. He feels comfortable around him because he can drink and smoke dope with him.
Even though alcoholism was passed down from father to son, Carver seems to have been able to pull himself up and make something of his life, unlike his father. His writing was what helped Carver realize the effect alcohol had on his and his father's life.
(Matt Blohm) A major theme of all three of Raymond Carver's pieces is alcoholism of the middle class. In his works, Carver explains that alcholism is not just exscapism but also a revolving trap door for society. For struggles and abuses are passsed down from parents to child. "A little water with the Scotch", in Carver's Cathedral, this bring up the idea of needing to drink. You can not subsitute alcohol with another drink. This sense of desire for it shows the audience that the narrator is dependent on alcohol.
ReplyDelete"Money burned a hole in his pocket", this quote from Carver's "My Father's Life", shows the dependency that his father had to alcohol. A major problem with alcholics is their constant desire to have more and more of it. As Carver goes on later to explain his family's fear of his father if they were to pour to much out.
"He's happier where he is now", This quote from Carver's "Photograph of My Father in his Twenty Second Year", shows the other desire from alcoholism; death. The major objective of alcoholics is to exscape, though it is by death that they receive the ultimate exscapism. They believe that they will no longer have to suffer what ever troubles that follow them. They will finally be at peace and free.
This theme of alcoholism is important to me because my uncle was an alcoholic and due to this, his son became an alcohlic. One day after too many drinks, the son drove a truck with his bestfriend back to the house, along the way they hit another car head on killing his friend. Every day he know has to live with that guilt. This was a wake up call to my family that this was a no laughing matter.
(Matt Park) Raymond Carver was an American short-story writer that consistently wrote about tales of the common blue-collar life. Through out these stories, he brings up noticeable themes that reflect through each of his novels. Poverty and alcoholism played a major in his own life and his work. The themes that Carver announces through these pieces are light/dark, losses, and alcoholism.
ReplyDelete“Cathedral”, written by Raymond Carver shows us a light/dark theme through out it. The wife of the story represents the light. The husband is having trouble seeing the light and is helped ironically by a blind man. At first the husband is rather annoyed by the blind man’s company until the wife falls asleep. The blind man asks the husband to close his eyes and continue to draw a cathedral. The closing of his eyes represent him trying to find the light. “But I had my eyes closed. I thought I’d keep them that way for a little longer. I thought it was something I ought to do.” The husband thought that he ought to continue to find the light through the use of the drawing a cathedral which symbolized the wife.
A theme from “My Father’s Life” is of losses. When the Dust Bowl his the father is forced to find work out west. Through out the story, losses of lives and jobs come up pushing them closer toward poverty. The father does not handle losses in the story well and leads to becoming an alcoholic. “I didn’t recognize him immediately. I guess for a moment I didn’t want to recognize him.” The son did not want to recognize him because of the pity and shame that came with seeing his father.
The son wrote a poem when he was having a hard time in life. Alcoholism is another major theme through Carver’s writings and shows up in the son’s poem. “Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can’t hold my liquor either and don’t even know the places to fish.” This line of the poem conveys that alcohol played a major role that helped bring him to a low point in life. Places to fish represent any kind of success which hindered him through the use of alcohol.
Overall, Carver used these themes through each of his novels. Raymond Carver went through a similar life like most of his stories. This experience helped enlarge our understanding of a certain part of American culture. The use of the themes of light/dark, loss, and alcoholism created a common goal to convey Carver’s thoughts.
(Matthew GINN)The story My Father in his 22nd is a very emotional story that if you truely open up to it you will truely understand what raymond jr. is going through. He is a young man that has been through some what of a hardship through his life time and now and the beginning of his adulthood he is starting to lose his father to an illness. Losing your father at any time in your life is hard but Raymond jr. truely realizes this when he is in the hospital after his wife gives birth to his first born. He goes to see his father who is in an upstairs room in the hospital just sitting their because he can't do anything else at the time. A main theme in this short story is that family. Raymond's wife has found several objects in the car that don't belong to her but obviously belong toanother female. But in the condition that Raymond is in right now it would not be the right thing to leave him. At one point his death is sure to come, but he bounces back and gets a job at another mill. Raymond had to move away to get a job. But his family was close enough that it did not effect them alot. But this whole family was based on the another theme which is chance. Think about it, Raymond met his wife outside of a bar when he was drunk, any other lady probably would not have gave him the time of day. It just goes to show that everything in life is life is not planned and that everyone should be prepared for the unexpected.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story Raymond Carvers "My Fathers life", the theme deals with the struggles of the blue collar life style. Each story that Carver writes is related to the blue collar way of life or less fortunate people. In "My Fathers Life" the main theme is alcoholism and trying to find work. Throughout the whole story Carver is constanly bringing uo the fact that his father would move from place to place in orfer to find work. He was never settled in one place for work. The wife in the story seems like she is not happy with her decsion of marriage to her husband, Carver's father. The husband and wife are always fighting, the two even get physical with each other. A quote that sticks out to me is when he states that his father is never in one place at one time; "My dad walked, hitched rides and rode in empty boxcars when he went from Arkansas to Washington State in 1934, looking for work. This shows us the reader that the father did try his best to provide for his family. Another theme used in this story is embarassment. Carver seemed embarassed or somewhhat ashamed of his family's lifestyle. For instance, when his teacher had to take him home one day he says "I asked him to stop at the house just before ours, claiming I lived there." We can understand the way of American Culture by a deep reading of the story and learing how one father did all he could do to provide for his struggling family.The realtionship between Carver and his father was not very good from the experiences and memories that Carvers gives us in detail. We can see in the end of the story that Carver becomes the opposite of his father, he becomes successful yet alcohol is still a problem that runs in the family, which brings up the theme of the story.
ReplyDeleteIn this short story many different themes where displayed. Three major themes of this story where alcoholism. Then there is the theme of being embarrassed by your parents as a child. Lastly, the theme of extreme poverty that was active during his father’s life. Each of these three themes where used in different ways to display a different perspective of American culture. The idea of being embarrassed by your parents is an idea that every child has. Whether it is because of money or merely because of the fact that your parents are embarrassing, is something every American feels at one point. Next there is idea of alcoholism. This story takes place during the Great Depression, which is a very dark spot in American history. The fact that Carvers father was an alcoholic described the terrible conditions they lived in. In order for the father to get through the day he had to get drunk, in what I think to hide how much he hates what he is doing. The extreme poverty level is the third theme. The father did what many people did during that time. He did everything he could to provide for his family, even if it meant constantly moving because he thought that he could get a better job in another town. Also the fact that he specialized in one very unique job shows this as well. He was probably taught by his father how to sharpen saws and that is all he knows, so even with his very limited field he did what he could to try to beat poverty. Even if that meant living in a trailer: owned by the very company who employs you. The idea of being embarrassed by your parents communicates to me the most. In the quote "I don’t know why I let him talk to me," we see that Carver is embarrassed. Even though on the surface all he is talking about is how he does not want to be around his father while he is drunk. On a deeper level we see how he actually feels about his father. Now while I do not have the same animosity as him towards my parents. He still feels the way I do about them. A parent who is an alcoholic is very embarrassing. So this thought has two meanings. The first is that he does not want to be around his dad because of his drinking problems. But that is probably a result of how his parents act when his father starts to drink. All of the ideas in this story sum up the life of a father during the one of the most troubling times in American history. They helped shape our culture to what it is today, and due to the struggles of people like Carvers father our country stands. The idea of being embarrassed by your parents communicates to me the most. In the quote "I dont know why I let him talk to me," we see that Carver is embarrassed. Even though on the surface all he is talking about is how he does not want to be around his father while he is drunk. On a deaper level we see how he actually feels about his father. Now while I do not have the same animosity as him towards my parents. He still feels the way I do about them. A parent who is an alcoholic is very embarrassing. So this thought has two meanings. The first is that he does not want to be around his dad because of his drinking problems. But that is probably a result of how his parents act when his father starts to drink. All of the ideas in this story sum up the life of a father during the one of the most troubling times in American history. They helped shape our culture to what it is today, and due to the struggles of people like Carvers father our country stands.
ReplyDeleteAmerica, to live, to prosper, to be remembered, a dream in it self, or is it? Carver helps the reader realize reality in a prejudice and depressed world. In The Cathedral the reader is introduced to two main characters. First the reader meets a drunken man who shows his prejudice views against blind people and other differing physical or social prestige. Second, a blind man who is humble and full of diversity. Throughout the story you realize that Carver makes everyone open their mind and ask who is that, who am I, who am I really? “Are you looking? My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.” In The Cathedral the reader notices this quote and given one last chance to allow Carver to pry open a universe of question. Carver uses this quote near the end of his story to double knot his theme, he shows the reader a changed man. In another world by Carver he titles an essay “My Father’s Life” which in a twisted way is ironic due to the subject matter and how it describes a man who barely lives and continuously dies. “Steady work was meaningful work”, expressing deprivation of a job and a meaning this quote reflects the opinion of a man who wants more, tries harder and accomplishes less. Carver uses this character and quotes, like above, to show the effects of the depression and misery of an alcoholic life, or even if it is a life at all. The third type of writing that Carver succeeds at is poetry and he tied the referred essay above to a poem called “Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year”. “ Father, I love you, yet how can I say thank you, I who can’t hold my liquor either and don’t even know the places to fish.” Carver shines through his poems and sparkles the love of this man’s son but blemishes his disappointments also. America is a wonderful place but she is no better than you make it and if abused, she will be your demise.
ReplyDelete(Daniel Kennedy) In Raymond Carver's "My Father's Life" and in "Photograph Of My Father In His Twenty Second Year," alcohol plays a crucial role as a theme. Raymond Carver's father, Raymond Carver Sr. has one specific downfall, alcohol. He shows his son how to work hard and earn an honest living, but then he allowed the bottle to control him. Ray Sr. always had to deal with his alcohol problems, and evidence of that is from the beginning, when he first met his wife, she says of him, "He was drunk," but she still fell in love with him. Then his wife had to lock him out of their house and even hit him when he would stay out late, drinking. If it would not have been for his drinking problems, then he would have had potential to be a great loving father and husband, but instead he was just a hard working, drunk. He may have either grown up with alcohol around him or his troubles may come from stress from his tough work.
ReplyDeleteIn "Twenty Second Year" Ray Jr. expresses how he feels about his father. He also mentions alcohol a few times because that is how he knows his father. This is sad because he plainly says "I love you, yet how can I say thank you." This tension between Ray Jr. and Ray Sr. is most likely caused by his father's alcoholic problems. Ray Jr. may feel awkward around his father because he is scared of him and what his drinking does to him. Either way Ray Sr. allows alcohol to get the best of him and causes him to not be the best man he can be. And it eventually destroyed his life and almost destroyed their family at times. He set an example of why not to drink to his son, which is the only good thing that came out of his drinking problems, and if Ray Jr. was smart, he would realize the dangers of alcohol and stay clear of it in his life.
(Jesse Reisman)In the story "My Father's Life" and the poem "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year", alcohol is a big factor in both of them. In "My Father's Life" the narrator goes on to say "I hate the Junior part". In this statement he is referring to the fact that he is ashamed of having the same name as his father. He later says that he was okay with being called "Frog" which implies that he doesn't want to be associated with his father. The narrator's father clearly has an alcohol problem. This is portrayed when the narrator uses the first time his parents met. At first site, his mother said "He was drunk" about his father. This implies that was drunk a mojority of the time throughout his life.
ReplyDeleteIn "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year", the narrator conveys his father as a drunk as well. The father is associated with many types of liquour or alcohol throughout this poem. Some of the connotations are "a bottle of Carlsberg beer,bottle of beer, and liquor". In both of these writings by Raymond Carver, it is obvious that the improper use of alcohol by his father tore them apart. This is shown when Raymond Jr. doesn't "know the places to fish". This implies that he and his father never apent any time together. Fishing is a tradition that fathers will pass on to their sons. So when Raymond Jr. says this, he is explaining that he never had a real role model in his life. This lack of someone to look up to would seriously affect the future of any person.
(kenneth alfaro)
ReplyDeletein the story "my fathers life" and in the peom "photograph of my father in his 22nd year" have a major theme. and that theme is alcoholism. raymond carvers father, was a drunken man that had his whole life revolve around alcohol. alcohol plays a big role in both pieces of writting. in the peom he talks about his father being drunk all the time he states that he loves him but yet he cant say thank you. he is impling that all though he loves him he cant say thank you beacause he has put his whole family down beacause of his addiction to alcohol. in the story my fathers life he also states how his father is always drunk through his life wheater he was at work or at home. raymond carvers mother even said that he was a drunk and that she never let him in the house at night when he comes home drunk. every day was a constant struggle for raymond carvers family.
In the story "My fathers life" it from a boy talking about his father. How he was a drunk and didnt have anything to do with him. The boy was trying to figure out why, but only had a few pictures of his father and didnt much about him to figure this whole problem out. He expresses that he loves him but cant say thank you for what he did because he wasnt there to be thanked. the reason he cant say thank you is because no one who left their family for an alcanhol addiction can be thanked because that is not a good man and has no reason to even be able to have a kid in the first place. his will always love him but there is no way they will a strong relationship like normal father and sons have.
ReplyDelete(Gus Dean) “He was drunk.” This statement from, My Father’s Life tells us that alcohol is a main factor in whatever the problem is of the story. We can induce from this little quote that alcoholism is probably involved and it greatly affects the main character. This is true for both of the Carver stories and again in the poem, The Life of my Father in His 22nd Year. In the story, Cathedral the main character is affected by alcoholism by coping with the stressful situation he is currently going through namely, the blind man coming to stay with them. In the story, My Father’s Life Carvers father suffers from alcoholism as way to cope with the failures of his life. Carver himself suffers from alcoholism. From this, we can conclude the alcoholism runs in the family. Alcoholism is a major motif of all three pieces by Raymond Carver. By this we can conclude that alcoholism has played a major role in the life of Raymond Carver. In my opinion the two stories are linked together by distrust in men even though he himself is a man. For instance in the story Cathedral, he is very unsure about the random man he has staying at his home. The root of this problem may come from his distrust in his own father spurred by his never being home and alcoholism. It was very interesting to see how Carver took events that happened in his life (as learned in the true story, My Father’s Life) was transferred and expressed in the fiction piece, Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteIn Raymond Carver's "My Father's Life" and in "Photograph Of My Father In His Twenty Second Year," alcohol plays a crucial role as a theme.In "My Father's Life" the narrator goes on to say "I hate the Junior part". In this statement he is referring to the fact that he is ashamed of having the same name as his father. Carver describes his father as holding perch in one hand and a beer in the other. This seems to be the way his father lived, with alcohol close by all the time. This could be why he is ashamed of the name. In "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty Second Year," that he has followed in his father's footsteps and has an alcohol problem. He mentions alcohol a few times because that is how he knows his father. This is sad because he plainly says "I love you, yet how can I say thank you." This tension between Ray Jr. and Ray Sr. is most likely caused by his father's alcoholic problems. Ray Jr. may feel awkward around his father because he is scared of him and what his drinking does to him. In "Cathedral," the characters are drinking alcohol throughout the story. When the narrator's wife goes to pick the blind man up from the train station, the narrator fixes himself a drink. When the blind man arrives, he fixes scotch drinks for himself, his wife and the blind man. They drink throughout the story. This example of alcohol is shown time after time in Carver’s writings. Carver stresses the hardships that the working class faces in its struggles throughout American history.
ReplyDelete“My Father's Life” is a story about the life of a boy's father who worked and worked and yet never moved up from the lifestyle that the family lived in. The central theme of this story is again the reoccurring theme of alcoholism. We understand that Carvers father is an alcoholic and seems to loose his temper when he drinks. Carver also tells us that his father never worked in one place place. His place of work was always scattered out in different places. The father would even hitch rides for work or to get the work place. These jobs that he would get would not be professional jobs they were blue collar work which also seems to be a popular theme in Carver's stories. Carver seems to also be very embarrassed of his lifestyle. He tells us that one day his teacher takes him home and he lies about where he lives in fear she might judge the way he lives. When Carver's father dies, Carver becomes the complete opposite of him. He goes on to write a lot then becoming a very famous and successful writer. Although along the way he deals with the problem of alcoholism.
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