Plot/Structure
The author depicts a fight between a woman and a man who is leaving the woman. He packs his things while she is holding her baby, and when he is done, the man demands the baby. They both hold the baby “is slipping out” due to the adults’ struggle, and the story ends with the phrase: “In this manner, the issue was decided” (Carver 105). I do not know another short story displaying such brutality and irresponsibility.
Point of View
To tell the story, the author uses a third-person narrator, who is very impartial. This attitude can be illustrated by short sentences such as she “caught the baby and leaned back” and he “felt the baby slipping out… and he pulled back very hard” (Carver 105).
Characters
The woman is very emotional, crying and trying to show that she kicks the man out, but she is ready to beg him to keep her baby, saying: “For God’s sake” (Carver 104). The man is rather brutal, using his physical strength as he “crowded” the woman and “pushed with all his weight” (Carver 104). The baby is “red-faced and screaming” during the fight between the man and the woman (Carver 104).
Setting
The author describes the weather of a spring evening with its dark melting snow and dirt. One sentence is specifically remarkable: “But it was getting dark on the inside too” (Carver 103). The author hints at a horrible ending of the story, so the setting is very dark and suggesting an even darker ending.
Imagery
Darkness and light are the most recurrent symbols in the story as the author repeatedly points at the darkness outside and inside. This imagery shows that although there can be (or have been) some light in the relationship between the two, there is only darkness now.
Topic
Former lovers’ desire to hurt each other when parting is one of the major things. She is insulting the man who is leaving and takes a picture of a baby he wants to take. He wants to take the woman’s baby from her instead.
Reference
Carver, Raymond. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Random House, 2016.