critical response#7

“The Bath” by Raymond Carver was a good story and I liked reading it alongside its elongated counterpart “A Small, Good Thing.” To be honest I liked the style of “The Bath” better, the preference may have come from reading it first and liking the ending then reading a different story and ending with the same characters. I didn’t like that the son, Scotty, died in the longer story or how the baker had such a different personality in person than he did over the phone, it seemed too inconsistent. I also didn’t like how the mother had a sudden epiphany and realized the caller was the cake baker. These changes in the story seemed to be too coincidental and convenient to be realistic.

I liked the way Carver depicted the mother’s detachment from reality and the father’s denial. It was illustrated particularly well when the two parents were having a conversation with the doctor. The father kept asking to make sure his son wasn’t in a coma, and that the doctors were sure that he’d wake up while the mother would attach herself to any words that came out of the doctor’s mouth. Even when the doctor said Scotty wasn’t in a coma, Ann, the mother, would conclude that her son was in a coma, and the doctor would have to try to re-explain it so that she understood that he wasn’t in a coma. This mindset is realistic of someone in disbelief and disconnected from reality, she’s not completely coherent and isn’t able to form sensible conclusions or deductions from what is happening around her. These realistic portrayals are what I liked best about both versions as well as the ironic ending of the shorter one.