From Absurdity To Responsibility:An Existentialist Reading Of The Images In Beginners

The present thesis aims to interpret Raymond Carver’s short story collection Beginners through an existentialist reading of the images in this book.Carver, noted as one of the most influential American short story writers of the 20th century, was no doubt under the influence of the ultimate existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre whose works he eagerly read during his years at Humboldt. Beginners, first published in 2007, is the manuscript version of the 17 stories that were published in book form as What We Talk about When We Talk about Love in 1981 which is widely known by readers.By studying images "alcohol" and "telephone", this thesis tries to analyze the absurdity of life both from Carver’s own life experiences and his characters in Beginners. Absurdity generates anguish and alcohol aggravates anguish, and with the worsening relationship of the acquaintances, hell is other people. By explaining images "water" and "television", this thesis discusses people’s alienated state of living after the industrialization and World War Ⅱ. By interpreting quitting alcohol and providing others with food, this thesis tries to prove only by shouldering the responsibility can people gain real happiness in life.This thesis also contains a comparison of the endings of each story both in Beginners and What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, which includes a chart of the percentage of deletion and the reason why Carver thought Beginners was a superior one of the two.