Raymond Carver: An Amazing Writing Style, An Amazing Author.
For most authors, it is traditional to develop some sort of writing style, which they use to write their works. Raymond Carver is an author of xmany short stories. In "A Small, Good Thing," two parents order a birthday cake for their son who gets into a car accident the same day. In "Cathedral," the narrator's wife invites a friend over. This friend who is a man happens to be blind and the narrator is rather skeptical of him and his handicap. In "Preservation," a man loses his job and his wife finds that their refrigerator has stopped working. All of these stories are about ordinary lives and Carver puts these lives through quiet drama. He uses a rather monotonous writing style to reveal this drama, which makes Carver's stories so interesting.
In "A Small, Good Thing," Carver takes the quiet life of a family and instantly starts drama by putting the family through life changing trials. Carver starts the story off with a very positive and easy-going mood. He puts the reader in a really vulnerable position where they wouldn't expect anything bad to happen. In the story, Ann Weiss decides to order a birthday cake from a baker for their son Scotty's birthday. While Scotty was walking home with his friend however, he is the victim of a hit and run car accident. Scotty gets up from it and continues walking home. Scotty isn't completely himself but he makes it home and tells his mom. Then he faints. Ann tells Howard and they get him to the hospital. Howard then leaves for home to try to deal with this turn of events. The baker calls the house and Howard picks up and the baker inquires about the cake that was supposed to be picked up. Howard doesn't know what he talks about and hangs up the phone. Howard gets back to the hospital. The keep asking about Scotty and they keep getting optimistic answers. Eventually they find out that Scotty didn't make it.