This paper discusses Raymond Carver’s short story `Where I’m Calling From.
This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes the short story Where I’m Calling From,` by Raymond Carver. Specifically, it compares this work with `To Build a Fire,` by Jack London. The author illustrates how as a recovering alcoholic, Carver had a unique outlook on life, and his characters show it with their ironies and quirks. Because of this, each character brings something special to the story and to the reader’s attention.
Raymond Carver wrote from the time he was a young man until his death at 50 in 1988. He wrote of his own experiences as an alcoholic, young father, and blue-collar worker. His writing was always classified as postmodern, however, as with most authors, his writing changed from his early work to his later works. The surfaces of Carver’s stories look calm and banal, but especially his portrayals of marriage problems are full of emotional tension, hidden memories, wounds, longing, hate, anxiety, and melancholy` (Liukkonen). In `On Writing,` Carver said of his own work, `But a unique and exact way of looking at things, and finding the right context for expressing that way of looking, that’s something else (Carver 13). He did not seem to think he had this talent, but the characters in his stories disprove it, especially the characters in Where I’m Calling From.“