Distance By Raymond Carver

Theme The instability of young relationships and their conflicting priorities

Plot Overview A boy and a girl are married and have a baby. Carl Sutherland was the boy’s father’s friend, but when the boy’s father died, Carl becomes like a father figure. Carl calls and asks the boy how he and the family is doing then asks if he’d like to go hunting with him the next day. The boy agrees, but before he leaves the morning of the trip, his wife believes the baby is becoming sick and asks him to stay home. They fight, and the boy eventually leaves despite his wife’s ultimatum. When he meets Carl, he explains what happened and explains that he needs to regretfully leave. Carl says all the boy needed to do was call ahead to cancel and reschedule. The boy goes back home, and they make up, laughing about the silliness of the fight.

Important Quotes “They were kids themselves, but they were crazy in love, this 18-year-old boy and his 17-year-old girlfriend when they were married” (page 186-187) “She began to cry…The boy laced his boots slowly…The kettle whistled on the stove in the kitchen. You’re going to have to choose the girl said. Carl or us. I mean it, you’re going to have to choose.” (page193)

Characterization The boy His priority is meeting with his late father’s friend Carl, over staying at home with the girl and his sick baby. His priorities are skewed away from what normally would be the most important, family. Impatient( because of the baby, and little sleep) when he is woken up by the baby before he leaves Inconsiderate of the girl’s emotions when she is upset by the baby’s cries. It is their first child and he doesn’t understand/sympathize with the panic she feels when she thinks the baby is sick Gives the girl space by leaving her after the argument instead of seeing her point of view as a worried mother to a new baby? He is narrow-minded to only his point of view

Characterization The Girl On edge, she panics when the baby won’t stop crying and believes it is because the baby is sick. She is a new mother, and is nervous about her baby’s wellbeing Controlling and expectant of obedience, she gives boy an ultimatum to either stay and choose family or leave to go hunting with Carl. Sleep deprivation may be the cause of her irritability and extent of her reaction against him leaving Carl Understanding, he doesn’t make the boy feel embarrassed when he has to go back home, but tells him he need only have called to cancel Father figure to the boy

Importance of Title The title “Distance” refers to how early the relationship between the boy and girl really is. Even though they had decided to get married at such a young age, they do not realize the different hardships of marriage they have to go through. The young couple are deeply in love, but they do not realize that marriage is a whole other level, and that they still have a long way to go towards understanding one another in there marriage. This can be seen through their simple actions when trying to handle the situation. The girl gets overdramatic and overwhelmed with the baby crying and that it was probably sick. She is still naïve and has a lot to learn as a mother. Even though they are in love, they still have a great deal of distance to cover before they reach an optimum level of understanding in their marriage. With the boy, He doesn’t know how he is supposed to handle the situation at all. All he can think about is going hunting with Carl in the morning even though his baby and wife need help at home. He is naïve to even consider going hunting when his baby is ill at home. However he still leaves, and he had go all the way to Carl and then realized his mistake for leaving. Both the girl and boy have a way’s to go in their relationship and marriage so that they have a more cohesive understanding towards each other even in they are “deeply in love.” They must still travel a great deal a distance before the transformation from a boy and girl to a man and woman.