Raymond Carver is an American poet and short story writer famous for his realistic style. This outstanding writer is well-known for the short story collections, one of which is called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Why Don’t You Dance? belongs to this collection and is considered to be one of the most outstanding and unusual short stories created by the writer because of its non-traditional structure and plot. In Why Don’t You Dance? Carver uses such literary devices as symbolism, binary opposition, sad and depressed tone in order to convey the themes of human relationships, loneliness, and separation.
The writer also uses binary opposition in order to show the contrast between the main characters and describe the essence of human relationship in a detailed way. Binary opposition is used in order “to explore differences between the individuals, such as cultural, class, and gender contrast” (Marinaro). The main opposition in the short story must be between a man and a woman. It proves the complexity of their relationship, and that not everything in life can be easily understood and explained. Thus, the reader does not know why the man wants to get rid of the furniture, why he drinks, why the girl dances with him and, maybe, even falls in love with. The opposition between a man and a woman proves that the short story is highly realistic and is very close to life, because there are many things one cannot explain. What is more, there is an opposition between past – present and present – future. When the man puts up the furniture for sale, it looks like he wants to sell his memory and forget about everything. At the same time, such a behavior proves that he is looking for changes and longs for a new life.
Finally, the tone of the short story highlights the theme of loneliness and separation. It looks like that the main character lives alone and has nobody to support him. Therefore, he drinks a lot and sells the furniture, as if willing to forget his former life. It looks as if he is in such an appalling emotional state that he does not even care about the price offered for the goods. The only thing he seeks for is communication and care; he wants to escape loneliness and invites the young couple to keep him company. This situation is immensely sad, because it expresses the life of a person that wants to be loved and cared for.
Works Cited
Carver, Raymond. “Why Don’t You Dance.” What We Talk About When We Talk About Love? Vintage Contemporaries, 1989.
Marinaro, Francesca. Binary Opposition in Literature: Definition & Examples. Study.com. PBS Online, n.a. Web. May 8, 2016. http://study.com/academy/lesson/binary-oppositions-in-literature-list-of-examples.html#transcriptHeader
