Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver is a short story which tone is established upon the small description of setting at the beginning of the work. The description of the dreadfulness of winter mixed with the word choice: "Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too,"(Carver,354) suggests that the "darkness" being expressed inside the house is referring to some difficult or terrible event. Turns out, the dispute between a leaving husband and his wife over the custody of the small child escalates into a huge fight and establishes the tense tone of the work. The continual snatching, pulling, and rough tugging of the child make me wonder how fit these people are as parents at all, either one of them. Their harsh and immature handling of the situation by pulling on the child come across as inhumane treatment, as well as their foul language: "Son of a bitch! I'm so glad you're leaving,"(Carver,354)! The home sounds like a stressful and terrible environment to raise a child, and the eventual fate of the baby, brought on by the parents' poor handling of the situation is quite depressing. The entire conflict which leads up to it is irritating, seeing that the couple each acts as if they love the child for wanting it, but show no real love in the way they treat the baby. Overall, this story was alarming and disturbing to see such a torn apart family.