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Summary
“Popular Mechanics,” is a short story written by an American short – story writer Raymond Carver. It was first published as “Mine” in Furious Seasons and Other Stories in 1977. For the collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love from 1981, it was retitled “Popular Mechanics”. When it was selected for the collection Where I’m Calling From in 1988, it was retitled again as “Little Things”. The story describes an argument between a man and a woman that escalates (increase rapidly) into a physical struggle over their baby. This story also represents the society in which there is a failure of communication between husbands and wives.
The story begins with the man pushing clothes into a suitcase. The names of husband and wife are not mentioned in the story. The weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. It was getting dark outside and it was also getting dark inside. His wife came to the door and said that she was very glad because her husband was leaving the home. She started crying. She told her husband that he was the son of a bitch. She also blamed him that he didn’t have courage to look at her face. She took a picture of the baby from the bed. He wanted the picture back. But she didn’t return picture. He finished packing, put on his coat, and turned out the light and went out of the living room. The woman stood in the doorway of the kitchen, holding the baby. He wanted to take the baby but she refused. The baby began to cry. She tried to hold the baby over in the corner behind the stove. He reached across the stove and tightened his hands on the baby. The baby was red- faced and screaming. They knock down a flowerpot. He crowds her, trying to break her grip on the baby. He gripped (a firm hold) the baby under an arm and tried to pull the woman’s fingers apart. As the baby slipped away, she screamed and grabbed for the baby’s other arm. The man also pulled very hard. The reason for their separation is not clear. The argument of husband and wife quickly transferred into a physical struggle. The final line, “In this manner, the issue was decided” is ambiguous. But it suggested that either the baby’s arm is broken or the baby died. The story doesn’t tell anything about what happened to the baby.
Questions
1) Are they hurting the baby? How do you know?
Ans: Yes, they are hurting the baby because both husband and wife are grabbing the baby’s arm side by side.
2) What happens to the baby at the end of the story? Why do you think so?
Ans: The story doesn’t tell anything about what happened to the baby. I think either the baby’s arms are broken or he dies. I think so because both husband and wife are grabbing the baby’s arm side by side.
3) Who do you think really wants the baby? Why do you think so?
Ans: Normally both father and mother want baby. If we judge minutely, mother really wants the baby. The love of baby is more to mother than father because she gives birth to the baby, breastfeeds the baby, nurses the baby. In the story too, if father loves baby, why he snatches the baby forcefully.
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