My Father’s Life by Raymond Carver

The last paragraph of this essay is my preferred by far, “… in their lovely voices out of my youth. Raymond.” The author of this story made it so concrete the dislike Raymond Jr. had for his birth name that it felt like a true discovery when the character lastly accepted it. To hear his father’s name echo as his own name and to enjoy it leaves the reader with the same sense of joy. The author of this essay has such a grasp on the lives and senses of a lower class worker that he certainly should have experienced it in his youth.

It doesn’t shock me to discover that his daddy worked at a saw-mill. That kind of gritty training need to leave an indelible mark on your psyche. This mark was plainly a reservoir from which to pull deep and meaningful prose that truly paints a photo in the mind of somebody who does not have those same experiences.

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This essay tells the story of a young boy who liked his father more than many. This boy even liked his father, extremely possibly, more than his mother.

It also tells how perceptive the boy and, later on, man were. This Raymond Jr. recognized the weaknesses of his father and still fell into the same traps himself. This essay taught me much about the depression era environment that the main character’s father, Clevie Raymond Carver, grew up in. His father rode on boxcards and pickled apples to get by.

He also was able to set aside money to buy a car. I never imagined an environment where a day laborer would have the excess income to set aside spare change.

In this modern age of paycheck to paycheck living that is truly an amazing feat. If the author was able to expand on his writings to fulfill a request of mine I would prefer to hear more about his father’s life before marriage. His father clearly had faults but what drove him into that personality. The character’s father was an alcoholic but still strived to better the life of his family. I’d like to know why.