Literary Criticism
Minimalism by Raymond Carver

English 210
P. Fishman Research Paper Literary Criticism on Minimalism by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver was a master of the short story during the mid nineteenth century due to his unique minimalistic style. Carver has his own artistic signature when it comes to writing, he tells his stories using the least amount of words possible to get a point across. This method leads to a creative piece of literature with strategically placed vocabulary to stimulate hidden meaning and different forms of communication throughout the plots as shown in …show more content…

Carver’s use of minimalistic writing allows the constant feeling of tension to be felt by the reader because it reminds the reader that their easy going lives could quickly be turned upside down just like the Weiss family’s life. The unclear yet oversimplified vocabulary helps exemplify this background tension by creating a lack of emotional connection between the characters and the reader, resulting in a gloomy mood. The lack of emotional connection influences a gloomy mood because without it the story is dehumanized. Readers are accustomed to connecting with the characters in stories through highly detailed and descriptive sentences that provoke emotional and usually optimistic feelings.
Carvers approach to writing appears to be very clean and simple on the surface but the minimalism incorporated creates in depth and complex pieces of literature that usually require multiple reads in order to reveal the many hidden messages and meanings not initially understood. Poor communication is one key theme that Carver stresses in his stories along with having a connection with the realistic representations of deep feeling and suffering crucial for complete accessibility on this particular writing style. Minimalism has many different effects on literature as shown in the short stories, “The Bath”, “A Small, Good Thing”, and “Cathedral”.
Minimalism is most obvious in “The Bath”