A Higher Degree Of Understanding

The Compartment

Having read my sixth Raymond Carver short story, I finally begin to realize that these stories are really interesting. It’s either that or The Compartment is the best story in the whole compilation.

The story starts out with a man traveling through France to go meet his kid in college. I observed that this was a slight change since this first scene doesn’t seem as interesting as the other beginning parts of the other short stories. Immediately after this, Carver describes a scene where Myers (the protagonist) beats up his son after a fight he has with his wife. “He slammed him into the wall and threatened to kill him. He meant it. ‘I gave you life… and I can take it back!’” (Pg. 48) Relating this scene with reality, I would say that Myers family should appear on a Jerry Springer show. I can’t imagine a father threatening his son like this and meaning it. After a few pages, we learn that the boy contacted his father through a letter. “But inexplicably, the boy had closed the letter with the word Love, and Myers had pondered this for a long while.” (Pg. 51) As I father I would have valued this letter in enormous amounts. Still, he was the one that should have taken the first step towards reconciliation. Even though Myers took a trip and was willing to see his son after all those years, I felt that he lacked motivation. He acted as if he was obligated to take this trip instead of being driven by the love for his son. He didn’t even announce it. “…there was really no one, besides his secretary and a few business associates, that he felt it was necessary to tell he was going away.” (Pg. 51)

As for his trip, we see Myers as the typical lazy tourist. He goes to cities of great historical value and just lies in his hotel room watching TV. Eventually, he took a train ride to the town where his son was. During his train ride, someone stole a watch he was going to give his son as a gift. “What was missing was the gift he’d bought the boy – an expensive Japanese wrist watch purchased at a shop in Rome.” (Pg. 52) From then on, Myers hated everything in his trip. “He felt dazed with anger… he looked out the window at this hateful place.” (Pg. 54)In the end Myers decides not to meet his son and keep on going. This made me arrive to a fairly logical conclusion. Myers is a "cheapo". He let his frustration for having lost the watch take the best of him and forces him to decide not to see his son.

With Carver, I’ve tried to learn how to interpret his writing in a positive and constructive manner. So far, it has been hard, but I think I’m getting there. Initially, I thought Carver was like those modern artists that scribble a weird shape on a canvas and call it art. Now, I understand the deeper meaning he wants to express in his stories.