Careful by Raymond Carver
"Careful" by Raymond Carver explores themes of separation, communication, and the complexities of interpersonal relationships through the lens of the protagonist, Lloyd. Recently separated from his wife, Inez, Lloyd navigates his life in a cramped attic apartment with minimal amenities, reflecting his emotional and physical state. The story opens with Lloyd struggling with a blocked ear, which serves as a metaphor for his inability to hear and process the situation surrounding his marriage. Inez visits unannounced to discuss their separation, highlighting the lack of preparation and communication between them.
Throughout the narrative, the tension between Lloyd and Inez unfolds as she assumes a caretaker role while grappling with the unresolved issues of their relationship. The physical setting of Lloyd's low-ceilinged apartment mirrors his constrained life choices and the struggle for clarity in his circumstances. The story culminates in the realization that despite Inez's intentions to communicate, their moment is cut short by the pressing realities of life. The narrative invites readers to reflect on the challenges of connection and understanding in personal relationships, underscoring the fragility of human interactions during times of distress.
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Careful by Raymond Carver
First published: 1983
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The 1970's
Locale: An unnamed city
Principal Characters:
Lloyd , who is separated from his wife and trying to overcome a drinking problemInez , his estranged wifeMrs. Matthews , his landlady
The Story
Lloyd and Inez have recently gone through what Inez calls "an assessment." The outcome of this assessment is that they decide to separate. As the story opens, Lloyd has recently moved into a two-room and bath attic apartment in Mrs. Matthews's house. The ceilings in the apartment are low and slanting, so much so that Lloyd has to stoop to look out the windows and has to be careful not to hit his head when he gets out of bed.
The reader first meets Lloyd as he enters the building in which he lives, carrying his groceries—some lunch meat and three bottles of Andre champagne. As he passes Mrs. Matthews's door, he looks in and sees that she is lying on the floor. He thinks that she might have collapsed, but her television set is on, and he does not venture to find out whether she is all right. She moves slightly, so he knows that she is not dead.
Lloyd's cooking facilities are minimal: A single unit contains his two-burner stove and a tiny refrigerator. Sometimes he makes himself instant coffee on the stove, but he is more likely to have a breakfast of crumb doughnuts and champagne. He switched to champagne in an attempt to wean himself away from hard liquor, but now he is drinking three or four bottles of champagne a day.
On the day of the story's action, Inez, Lloyd's estranged wife, comes unannounced to see him. Because he does not have a telephone, she has not been able to forewarn him of her visit. When she arrives at eleven o'clock in the morning, Lloyd is sitting in the apartment, not yet dressed, banging his head with his fist. His right ear passage has become blocked with wax, which he is trying to dislodge. The blockage makes all sounds seem distorted. When Lloyd talks, he hears himself talking like someone in a barrel, and his balance is affected as well.
Inez has come to talk with him about the details of their separation, some of them having to do with money. It soon becomes evident, however, that little can be accomplished until Lloyd's ear is fixed, so Inez immediately leaps into the role of mother-nurse. Lloyd recalls that one of his schoolteachers, who was like a nurse, years ago had warned her students not to put anything smaller than their elbows in their ears, and he tells Inez of this warning. She responds, "Well, your nurse was never faced with this exact problem," and she proceeds to search for a hairpin or some other implement to stick into Lloyd's ear to dislodge the wax.
Finally, after an abortive attempt to work with a small nail file wrapped in tissue, Inez goes to ask the landlady to borrow some oil, which she heats and pours into Lloyd's ear, warning him to keep his head positioned so that the oil will not run out for at least ten minutes. While Inez is downstairs borrowing the oil, which quite significantly turns out to be baby oil, Lloyd slips into the bathroom and finishes off the bottle of champagne that he stashed there when he heard Inez arriving a few minutes earlier. Lying as he must to keep the oil in his ear, Lloyd sees everything around him from an odd perspective. All the objects in his vision seem at the far end of the room.
Finally, the oil works, and the wax is dislodged. However, too much time has passed for Inez to talk with Lloyd about whatever it was that originally brought her to his apartment. She has other commitments to keep. Lloyd asks her where she has to go, and she replies vaguely, "I'm late for something." When she gets downstairs, Lloyd hears her talking with Mrs. Matthews, who asks her to leave her telephone number in case Lloyd should need her. Inez says that she hopes he will not, but she gives Mrs. Matthews the number. Lloyd hears her drive away in their car.
Lloyd pours some champagne into the glass in which Inez had put the baby oil. Although he has rinsed the glass out, he notices that some oil is floating on top of the champagne. He throws the champagne down the sink, gets the champagne bottle, and drinks from it.
Bibliography
Bethea, Arthur F. Technique and Sensibility in the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Campbell, Ewing. Raymond Carver: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1992.
Gallagher, Tess. Soul Barnacles: Ten More Years with Ray. Edited by Greg Simon. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000.
Halpert, Sam. Raymond Carver: An Oral Biography. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1995.
Lainsbury, G. P. The Carver Chronotope: Inside the Life-World of Raymond Carver's Fiction. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Nesset, Kirk. The Stories of Raymond Carver: A Critical Study. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1995.
Powell, Jon. "The Stories of Raymond Carver: The Menace of Perpetual Uncertainty." Studies in Short Fiction 31 (Fall, 1994): 647-656.
Runyon, Randolph Paul. Reading Raymond Carver. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1992.
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Stull, William L., and Maureen P. Carroll, eds. Remembering Ray: A Composite Biography of Raymond Carver. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1993.