Theme

Zoe Rubens

AP English P5

Thematic obsessions and trends

Alcohol & Love

Alcohol and love often go hand and hand in the real world. Raymond Carver takes both of these aspects of day to day life and turns them into themes within his short stories. Carver uses literary devises such as tone, symbolism and diction to explore how the different themes of love and alcohol affect relationships.

            Raymond Carver uses his short stories to explore the thematic trends of both the nature of love and alcohol.  Even though these themes are separate they often are found together within Carver’s short stories. Within Carver’s first collection of short stories, What We talk About When we Talk About Love,no characters truly know how to communicate, show, or accept love unless alcohol fuels the conversation.  In one of Carver’s short stories a woman who thinks she is in love with her abusive boyfriend suffers manipulation because she believes that is the price one has to pay to be loved.   He stalked, cheated and abused Terri. Yet as Terri finally opens up about the suffering she has endoured in her relationship she states, “There was an ice bucket on the table. The gin and tonic water kept going around, and we somehow got on the subject of love” (Carver, What We talk About When we Talk About Love.) Several things within this scene show how the theme of love is developed.  Love is often associated with the idea of happily ever after, safety, and happiness yet Carver demonstrates that love is not always as it seems.  Terri believed that she was in love even though she was hurt, unsafe and scared.  The gin and tonic water touches about the theme of alcohol.  It demonstrates that it is the center, the focus of the couples and that it provides a common ground making people feel comfortable and safe enough to share.  The alcohol is also being passed to the group, symbolizing the relationships of the couples.  It serves to relax the people making it easier for them to communicate.  Alcohol fuels the conversation about love.  The tone is matter of fact tone shows that this is a subject that the characters have no emotion toward.  It simply does not hold the weight it should and comes across very lightly. It indicates that the characters are accepting of their situation but also unfeeling toward the idea of love.

            Similarly these themes are demonstated in another book by Carver.  In the Cathedral the themes of love and alcohol are demonstrated by the characters.  As one man tries to explain to another man who happens to be blind a new kind of love is displayed, an unconditional one.  The protagonist shows a lot of compassion to a man he did not immediately like before they shared a moment of true empathy.  The wife of the protagonist asks her husband to befriend the blind man, and when he makes it clear he does not want to she states, "If you love me…you can do this for me. If you don't love me, okay.” (Carver, The Cathedral).The tone here is again matter of fact, and it shows that the wife is accepting if her husband loves her and if he does not.  It indicates that the wife is unfeeling toward her husband and suggests a lack of emotional attachment.   Her indifference to thewishesalso shows a lack of passion within their relationship.  This is not the kind of love people are used to reading about; even though people are together by a title they couldn’t seem more alone.  By using the word “If” the wife is implying that she is questioning the strength and importance of their relationship. It illuminates the comfort that the wife has with not being loved and cared for.  Her lack of passion indicates that this is not the first time her husband has refused to help her with an easy task.  Later in the story the protagonist explains what a Cathedral looks like to the blind man the speaker states, “I reached for my glass, but it was empty. I tried to remember what I could remember” (Carver, The Cathedral) Again alcohol is the center of conversation.  The emptiness of the glass could symbolize how emotionally unfulfilled the protagonist really is with his life. His wife and he have issues, and he is unaccepting of people who happen to be different than him.  However instead of pouring himself another drink he begins to show empathy and explains what it is like to see a church.   This moment shows the protagonist truly being fulfilled by something other than his drink.

            What We Talk about When We Talk about Love and The Cathedraldemonstrates the thematic trends of Love and alcohol.  Literary devises such as diction, tone and symbolismdemonstrates how Carver feels about both themes and develops them through his use of these devises.  Within Carver’s stories love is a perk but alcohol is a necessity.