Analytical Response C

Raymond Carver's "Bicycles, Muscles. Cigarettes" is a short but powerful story. The story begins with a neighborhood child trying to find out what happened to his bike. The three other children deny their involvement in the disappearance of the bike. The argument escalates into a fight between two of the fathers. Carver uses the fight scene to connect three generations of family and their memories together. There is a constant theme of anger and not knowing what another person is fully capable of. The message of the story is that one can never fully know or understand another person until they have seen them in times of unease and discomfort.
Carver is also the author of "Cathedral". "Cathedral" has a theme of the monotony of the everyday life. This story also incorporates this theme. In both of these stories there is a feeling of isolation. The son who says he feels lonely, and Bub who is just living life by going through the motions. Both of these stories are about ordinary people facing ordinary problems but have a deeper philosophical meaning. Carver is saying that we must find transcendence in the mundane tasks that occur in everyday life.
There are a few moments of grace. When Hamilton is sitting outside thinking about his father and trying to remember him. Hamilton's son acts as a vehicle of grace for his father. He asks his dad about what he was like and tries to get his father to open up to him.