Raymond Carver's 'Jerry And Molly And Sam'

Raymond Carver “Jerry and Molly and Sam” is a short story of a man who is an alcoholic. The story takes us to the life of an alcoholic whose name is Al. Because Al hates the dog he plans “to get rid of the dog without Betty or the kids finding out about it” (Carver 15). This is significant because he thinks that getting rid of dog will fix all his problems. Furthermore, he thinks that the dog is useless. According to Stephanie Harrison, editor of the Adaptations, she emphasizes that most of “[Carver] stories features hard drinking, unhappily married [and middle class workers]” (3). This is significant because it shows that most of his writing was about serious problems. Furthermore, this ties with the story because Al’s relationship with his wife is falling apart. The author uses Al to examine the themes of infidelity and guilt. …show more content…
According to Stephanie Harrison, editor of the Adaptations she mentions that “[t]he problems of fidelity can be illustrated by ‘jerry And Molly and Sam’” (6). This is important because throughout the story Al is unfaithful. While Al was at work he meets Jill and he is “having an affair [with her]… and he [doesn’t] know what to do about it” (Carver 16). This significant because this shows that he is being unfaithful with his wife and it also shows that he doesn’t really care about what his wife thinks. In the film version of the story, Al says “there are too many women in my life” (Jerry and Molly and Sam). This is shows that Al has many women in his life besides his wife. Al’s depression leads him to have an affair with