In Raymond Carvers “Little Things”, Carver utilizes an ironic title to portray a bleak setting of two people who were seemingly struggling with not only their relationship but their own mental and emotional stabilities. Carver’s ability to use symbolism to paint a picture that tells two stories simultaneously is quite profound. While reading about a man and woman who were trying to sever their relationship, it is discovered a bigger and possibly a darker situation exists, using symbolism.
All big things are made of much smaller little things that can build up over time if ignored and as Carver shows us, this can be true as negative aspect of life. “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting in to dirty water” sets the tone of the oncoming demise of the couple much in the way as most relationships begin: the couple feeling that their love is as pure as snow (Carver 35).
That Carver tells us that the weather had already been at the peak of its output; it shows that the worst of the weather is seemingly over and now the fallout of the storm is starting to melt and dissolve the happiness and love that the couple once knew. The “snow melting in to dirty water” is symbolic of the purity and nnocence of their love slowly becoming something that is nasty, unwanted and contaminated (Carver 35). Reinforcement for this is found in the next sentence, “Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark, but it was getting dark on the inside too” (Carver 35).
The slush is representative of the last vestiges of commitment as the cars, symbolic of the outside and uncaring world, kept driving through into the twilight, without a single acknowledgement or care in the world about the darkness settling inside the home of the couple. The man continues to pack his suitcase when she enters the oom and attempts to goad him into a response. The man remains quiet, perhaps as a form of shame, perhaps to de- escalate the argument or maybe even a way to goad her back by denying her the satisfaction of a retort.
The woman here shows an example of ignoring her shame by seeming to go on the offensive toward the man. The woman cries, “You can’t even look me in the face, can you? ” yet his is stubbornness to remain quiet as well as her inability to maintain eye contact with him ultimately tells the story of unspoken shame, regardless of either one’s efforts to inflame the tensions (Carver 35). Carver can accomplish this surprisingly without assigning any individual role of responsibility.
The woman “noticed the baby’s picture on the bed and picked it up”, an action to which the man remained quiet and unresponsive (Carver 35). Upon her exit from the room, the perception is given that the picture of the child is vitally important. The man, who did not appear to want the picture of the baby until the woman left the room with it in hand, sees this as a memory that was lost or even prematurely taken from their lives. The man, now finished with packing his suitcase as the woman ontinues to chide him, completes his tasks and begins to leave the bedroom himself.
Before leaving, he takes one last look around prior to turning the light off (Carver 35). As he enters the living room, the woman begins to struggle and deal with the fact that her relationship is failing as now the picture has disappeared and she is holding an actual baby. The man demands that she hand the baby over; the struggle truly begins between both parties and the baby here is symbolized as pride and dignity. The couple begins to become more antagonistic towards one another while the baby finds itself as a fulcrum in n emotionally and physiologically charged game of tug of war.
As the tug of war intensifies, the argument quickly turns into a dangerous situation; a situation that could very easily get out of control. As the man tightened his grip on the baby, the baby grew more and more distressed. Carver writes “In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot that hung behind the stove”; the flowerpot is symbolic much in the same way that Carver used melting snow and dirty water as a sign of things to come inside the house.
Everything warm and glowing about a relationship can be embodied in a simple flower pot, and the extent of the cuffle that brought it crashing to the ground as the couple’s relationship continues to shatter the flowerpot. This is comparative to the way many couples will allow themselves to do whatever it takes to maintain their pride and dignity as their relationship disintegrates. The woman cries “you’re hurting the baby”, thus representing her being emotionally and psychologically threatened and hurt (Carver 35).
The man replies in a matter of fact way “no I’m not hurting the baby”, which can communicate that he is already refusing to admit fault and enter a state of denial in a very tense situation (Carver 35). As the couple continues to corkscrew towards a point of no return, we see that “the kitchen window gave no light”. With their struggle for control now fueled by pure pride, the house is now in almost total darkness, much like the emotional state that the man and the woman are finding themselves in.
The little things in each of the man and woman’s respective lives were becoming darker and much larger, which represents their situation of becoming more grave and spiraling out of control. The skirmish for the “baby” intensified and rapidly escalated to the point where the baby (representing pride and integrity) was pproaching its breaking point. Both sides dug their heels in deep, setting up a possible inevitability that neither the man nor the woman will ever be able to take back.
Carver concludes his story with the line “in this manner the issue was decided” (Carver 35). As the written story ends here, the perception is given that perhaps both man and woman abandoned both pride and dignity as the scuffle turns physical. The implication definitely exists that the dark and sinister was on the verge of embracing the couple. In conclusion, Raymond Carver’s use of symbolism throughout Little Things” shows the potentially devastating effects of shame ignored and how a relationship can develop a relatively low flashpoint.
Another example of this would be to revisit the baby picture as a symbol of their relationship and how it has failed. Although Carver never explicitly describes that the couple are indeed married, the inner struggle to maintain their own respective pride and dignity can nonetheless become extremely powerful emotions that can make someone feel as though they are on the precipice of mere survival when they find themselves in a heated and tense environment; this is a angerous mental combination as this is more often than not the birthplace of fear and the sense of feeling threatened.
The couple was too stubborn and proud to communicate their issues with each other and in doing so, allowed the little things to begin festering into the big things. It is also possible that the picture of the baby represents a child that the couple lost through fostering a physically abusive relationship. This notion is partially ironic in its own right as the baby picture ultimately leads to a tragic escalation of a domestic dispute incident for hich Carver chose a baby to represent the limits and breaking points of pride, integrity, dignity and patience.
It is through personal experiences that Carver’s story becomes so much more than just a story or even a fable. The willingness to do almost anything at any cost to maintain one’s self-worth will surprise even the most steadfast of people when the right (or wrong) situation finds them. The most symbolic aspect of Carver’s “Little Things” that can relate to past personal experiences would without a doubt be the use of the physical baby representing pride and dignity.
