The Multi-facetedness Of "Things" In Raymond Carver's Stories

Raymond Carver usually starts his writing with a "scene" in his mind.His stories appear like "slices of life",with an obvious visual and theatrical quality.Therefore,"things" play a very important part in Carver's stories,functioning as a supplement to the superficial plots,and relate to the characters and the themes.This research focus on studying Carver's writing of "things" in different stories,to explore how "things"work on di:fferent aspects—as elements of the plots,metaphors,or symbols of a superior Carver's "world".Caver's manipulation of "things" helps us to "see" the scenes more clearly,and to further understand what Carver omits and the ideas he really wants to express,which finally contributes to an efficient communication between the writer and the readers.As far as ? know,there rarely have been any scholarships about "things" in Carver's short stories,though some scholars have noticed the graphic or visual quality of his stories,and named it "visual poetics" based on photographic theories.In this thesis,? try to study the writing of "things" from various angles,with the method of close-reading,giving different classifications of "things",and explore the delicate narrative and rhetorical strategies of Raymond Carver.The study also helps us to find out some inter-textual connections between different stories of Carver,which is expected to provide us with a brand new perspective to look at his works.The main body of the thesis is divided into three sections.Part ? explores how the artificial things are represented in Carver's characters' living space,as elements of the stories' backgrounds or environments,and the particular way with which those things connect to their existential condition.With the narrative strategy of "telling",part ?examines how "the things of memory"—which have more significant status in the plots,relate to the characters' internal activities and memories."The things of memory" are metaphorical,referring to those lost happiness and dreams of the past,and also connect to people's reflection on the "lost" and their contemporary life.Part ? discusses the "things of nature"—including images about nature,focusing on how things characterize the characters' spiritual world on the aspects of metaphor and symbolization.Ultimately,the study is expected to depict a whole pattern of Caver's"world" upon our findings,to reveal its rules,orders and values.The study finally helps us to get closer to Carver's unique thinking about some paradoxical but serious problems—family and freedom,realities and dreams,the past and the present,now and the future,which are all thematically,indicating the central meanings of Carver's writings.