In “Popular Mechanic”, Carver told us two issues in the story. However, as the Carver told us at the ending line if the story, “In this manner, the issue was decided,” the author did not make clear what ‘issue’ was ‘decided.’ The ‘issue’ that the text describes as ‘decided’ could be either the argument between the parents or the fate of the baby but not both. Both parents repeatedly say they want the baby. Hence, if the meaning of the last line can never be known, what happens in the story can never be known as well. The possibilities are endless for this story.
The opening lines, “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. …show more content…
In the story in the Bible, there are two women arguing, one has a living baby and the other has a dead one. There are several differences that can be found in the endings of both stories. The ending of the short story "Popular Mechanics" was unclear and the ending is clear in the story of Solomon. Furthermore, in the story in the Bible, the false mother agrees to cut the baby in half, but the real mother says she'd rather see her baby go to the wrong person than see it killed. By the mother's selflessness, Solomon recognized who the real mother is and awards to the real mother the custody of the child. In contrast, there is no selfless parent in the story "Popular Mechanics."
In "Popular Mechanics," Carver used two different types of irony to convey the theme, to show the reader the conflict and issue of the couple. In the beginning of the short story, 'She' starts saying, "I'm glad you're leaving! I'm glad you're leaving!" and somehow, her exclaiming this twice seems to mean the opposite, verbal irony. The story makes the reader feel really bad and sad and that in order to convey the theme, the speaker/narrator used situational irony. The readers expected that the man is just going to leave his other half, but then it turns around and becomes a fight over a
The opening lines, “Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. …show more content…
In the story in the Bible, there are two women arguing, one has a living baby and the other has a dead one. There are several differences that can be found in the endings of both stories. The ending of the short story "Popular Mechanics" was unclear and the ending is clear in the story of Solomon. Furthermore, in the story in the Bible, the false mother agrees to cut the baby in half, but the real mother says she'd rather see her baby go to the wrong person than see it killed. By the mother's selflessness, Solomon recognized who the real mother is and awards to the real mother the custody of the child. In contrast, there is no selfless parent in the story "Popular Mechanics."
In "Popular Mechanics," Carver used two different types of irony to convey the theme, to show the reader the conflict and issue of the couple. In the beginning of the short story, 'She' starts saying, "I'm glad you're leaving! I'm glad you're leaving!" and somehow, her exclaiming this twice seems to mean the opposite, verbal irony. The story makes the reader feel really bad and sad and that in order to convey the theme, the speaker/narrator used situational irony. The readers expected that the man is just going to leave his other half, but then it turns around and becomes a fight over a