Why Don't You Dance? by Raymond Carver
"Why Don't You Dance?" by Raymond Carver is a short story that explores themes of isolation, connection, and the complexities of human interaction. The narrative opens with a man who, after experiencing some form of personal loss, stages his bedroom furniture in his front yard, creating an unusual scene that blurs the line between indoor and outdoor life. This setup inadvertently attracts two young visitors, a boy and a girl, who mistake the arrangement for a yard sale and begin to engage with the items.
As the story unfolds, the trio—a middle-aged man and the two teenagers—share drinks and music, leading to an impromptu dance in the driveway. The dance becomes a pivotal moment of connection, highlighting the man's yearning for intimacy and the fleeting nature of their encounter. The atmosphere shifts from a simple exchange of furniture to a deeper exploration of human vulnerability as the characters navigate their interactions. Ultimately, the story raises questions about the significance of such transient connections and the ways people cope with their emotions in the face of loneliness. Its poignant simplicity invites readers to reflect on their own relationships and the moments that define them.
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Why Don't You Dance? by Raymond Carver
First published: 1981
Type of plot: Antistory
Time of work: About 1980
Locale: Somewhere in the United States
Principal Characters:
A man A girl A boy
The Story
As he pours himself a drink in the kitchen, a man looks out the window to his front yard, where the bedroom furniture has been arranged almost precisely as it was arranged in the bedroom. There is the bed, flanked by two nightstands and two reading lamps; a chiffonnier; a portable heater; a rattan chair. The kitchen table stands in the driveway, and on top of it are a record player, a box of silverware, and a potted plant. The rest of the furniture is also on the lawn: a desk, a coffee table, a television set, a sofa and chair. Earlier in the day, the man had run an extension cord from the house to the lawn, and now all the electrical items can be operated as well outdoors as they were inside the house.
Later, after the man has gone to the market, a boy and a girl stop at the house, thinking that the furniture on the lawn must signal a yard sale in progress. They begin to examine the items in the yard, and soon the boy turns on the television set and sits down on the sofa to watch it. The girl tries out the bed and invites the boy to join her; though it makes him feel awkward, he gets on the bed with her because there seems to be no one in the house. After a while, the boy decides to see if anyone is at home who can tell him the prices of the items in the yard. The girl instructs him to offer the owner ten dollars less than the asking price for each item.
Meanwhile, the man returns from the market. The boy says that they are interested in the bed, the television, and the desk, and they haggle, settling on forty dollars for the bed and fifteen for the television. The man pours drinks for all three of them. While drinking his glass of whiskey, the man drops a lighted cigarette between the sofa cushions, and the girl helps him find it. The three sit together drinking whiskey in the dark.
The man decides that the young couple should buy the record player. He refills their drinks. Finding a box filled with records, he asks the girl to pick one, which she does at random, unfamiliar with any of the titles. The boy, by now slightly drunk, is writing a check when the man suggests that the boy and the girl dance to the phonograph music. Though the boy is reluctant, the couple start dancing together in the driveway, and before long the man joins them. The girl notices that the neighbors are watching, but the man seems not to mind, telling her that the neighbors only thought that they had seen everything at his house. The girl and the man start to dance closer together.
Some weeks later, the girl tries to describe what happened at the man's house that night. For a time, she talks about the incident frequently, trying to get it out of her system.
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.
Saltzman, Arthur M. Understanding Raymond Carver. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988.
Stull, William L., and Maureen P. Carroll, eds. Remembering Ray: A Composite Biography of Raymond Carver. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1993.