A Small, Good Thing

Response 2

Considering this was the first short story I had read by Carver I was intrigued by all facets of the reading experience. I was attempting to observe his style while also establishing the characters and the emotion of their relationships. Though all of my predictions turned out to be wrong, they made the outcome of the story slightly more interesting. Earlier I was going to wager that the baker was important based on the initial description devoted to him, but didn’t feel it strongly enough to write it.

I found all of the characters interesting based on their close and constant interaction. The doctor was hard to dissect though, as if his competence was called into question based on his only abilities being false assurances and sorrow. Scotty’s character was the catalyst, but nothing otherwise, which was perfect because it made him a universal child.

I felt tension building as I read, but once Franklin was mentioned, it was gone. I realized they both had to die as some kind of parallel narrative spreading the pain of the situation further.

I was struck by Howard’s introspection about the series of events his life played out in: college, marriage, college, child, career success and so on. I used to over structure my life and the fact that his life collapsed so quickly was a great reminder that no one controls life.

“There it sits over there, getting stale. I’ll give it to you for half of what I quoted you. No. You want it? You can have it. It’s no good to me, no good to anyone now.” Given the fact that the bake called the cake Scotty, I couldn’t help applying this to the deceased boy. Aside from this morbid parallel the baker consoles Ann and Howard in a way they and the doctor could not.

I chose the song “Day Old Hate” by City and Colour to pair with this story. It doesn’t all fit with one character but the statements relate to the feelings they shared:

Response 1

“A Small, Good Thing”

-Saturday afternoon she drove to the bakery in the shopping center.

Neither the title nor the first line exactly presents an abundance of information to interpret. I suppose that goes along with the fact that Carver is a minimalist. I really feel isolated with this starting point. I could run with something about bread being her small good thing. She is only a pronoun, maybe she will never be deserving of a proper name. She could have a husband, but I don’t think she has kids. They would have been mentioned? Saturday afternoon shopping could mean she is too busy to go during the week, or she’s having a dinner party that night and wanted something fresh. The bakery is a small, locally based organic operation which makes it good? I don’t believe extrapolating from such a small amount of information is going to lead me in the proper direction.

Well, I went on to read the first paragraph. She has a kid, probably a husband. She needs a birthday cake. She will likely get a name because the kid is Scotty. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up being a minor character based on the fact that kids take over their parents’ existence. That previous sentence is in direct contrast with my idea of a professional woman who was going to host a party for people her age. At least it is a party.

Based on the minute, choppy details going into the description of characters, I would be shocked to see flowing or emotional descriptions of any person. I just glanced and saw the woman’s name is Ann.

My stream of consciousness has been muddied with her name. Back to the book.