There are a lot of interpretations we can find on the Internet and the question is why such a short story as "Popular Mechanics" by Raymond Carver became so popular. The plot is how the couple was going to break up, the man was leaving home, woman hysterically commented his intentions and finally, they started to argue about their baby and it seemed as if the baby was torn apart (this final wasn't completely clear).
The reality effect is the first reason for reader's recognition of this story. The first paragraph draws the picture of prosaic reality:
"Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water... Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too."
Some literature's critics explain the symbolism of this story:
The snow melting into dirty water: snow is white and is considered pure, but the dirty water represents the darkness that is to come in their relationship.
Dark and slush give the story a negative feeling
There is an opinion that the story represents a modern interpretation of Solomon's decision. When two women came to Solomon each pretending as a mother for one baby, Solomon suggested to divide the child into two parts for each woman, the true mother refused her right for the baby and Solomon recognized her as a mother.
This interpretation bases on the action, on their dispute about a baby. I hold the opinion that representing a routine of human relationships is more important in this story. Two people who lived together and have a child became emotionally separated. They act as robots, as actors who are playing their own roles. Let's see the text:
The man seems to keep a calm attitude about the situation while the woman is yelling.
When the woman takes the picture it also shows that she will not give up without a fight.
This version of moral of this story would be proved by the story of naming the story. Its original title was "Mine", then, it was changed into "Popular Mechanics" by the editor, finally, the story was named "Little Things".
The author uses "just-telling-what-happened" style. The tone of the story is angry, aggressive, and tense.
I think that the main idea of the story is to represent a mechanism of breaking up without emotions. It proved the last line:
"In this manner, the issue was decided"
This is a link to Youtube video which represents this story very well:
This story was corrected by teacher Varvara during the lessons in online school albert-learning.com
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