When the narrator does meet Donna again he brings her to a bar called Off Broadway. But she tells him she's late and that they can go to lunch later to talk. Later that day, he saw J. He is frightened about that, and tells her about a health teacher who once warned them of sticking things in their ears. In terms of the Jack London story, he can either willingly freeze to death or do his best to build a fire.
He knows he'll tell her the truth if she asks where's he calling from. At least for a while. He went up another flight of stairs to the door of his room and used the other key on that lock. The reader is now even more aware that Lloyd is unable to control his drinking and if anything is not prepared to admit he is dependent on alcohol. His protagonists are frequently down on their luck, often drink far too much, and have an air of despair about them, for definable or indefinable reasons. One key let him into the house itself. He saw the old woman lying on her back on the carpet.
Through his drinking Lloyd is totally oblivious as to what time it is and remains detached from reality. When Roxy comes to visit, she suggests they go into town for lunch, but he insists they ought to stay for his recovery. Gelfant and Graver 188 Carver's works are genuine and demonstrate the daily struggles of , whose lives are not only not what they wish them to be but so insular that they dare not even wish of what they would have when young. But he was trying to do something about his drinking, too, so he was glad to be alone. Tiny had been clowning around the breakfast table when he suddenly had his seizure and fell to the floor.
He remembers an incident where, one morning, he heard something scrape along the side of the house in the morning, and opened the shades to see the landlord painting. He saw this opportunity as a turning point. The next morning, he was arrested for driving drunk, which was good since he'd been almost killing himself at work by drinking in high places. The current moment is two days later. During the argument with the narrator she tells him that she is leaving her job selling vitamins and moving to Portland.
To try and address his drinking which is at least a partial cause of his marital discord , Lloyd has committed to drinking only champagne, but throughout the story, he drinks several bottles. All the while, he thinks back on his own situation. But when young, he could head to the surface and enjoy the pressure of release. The father and brother could do nothing to curb the problem. It is a tough job, given that the personnel turnover is high and girls keep joining her team, but also defecting. Lloyd has a drinking problem, and seems immune to the suffering this causes his wife.
Fran notices a plaster cast of very crooked teeth sitting on top of the television. Even a basic understanding of the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous makes it clear that an addict must want to help himself, and yet this is so difficult because it requires the addict to take action. In the bathroom, he has a long drink of the now-warm champagne and then brushes his teeth. Patti takes this job of selling vitamins and her skills, perhaps her good looks too, help her make a success out of it. Some have a talent for it, but many others freeze outside the door of potential customers, or are just trying out for no good reason at all. The build-up of wax in Lloyd's ear is thus significant on a literal and a symbolic level.
Taken from his collection of the same name the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed man and from the beginning of the story the reader realises how detached the narrator is. Therefore, he needs to change. He gave his head another jolt with his fist, then got to his feet. Frank Martin's is a voluntary establishment, and he recently signed himself in, after his girlfriend who was also drunk drove him there. He will have to learn to listen not only to what Inez says but what he needs to tell himself.
Frank Martin called the ambulance, and then the next day the day of the story , Tiny exhibited no appetite and no humor. While reflecting on his problem, Lloyd remembers how he used to feel inner ear pressure as a child when he held his breath under water. He hopes that, if he does like J. By also hiding his alcohol from others Carver manages to highlight how dependent Lloyd is on alcohol. Carver's early critics, notably James Atlas in 1981 and Madison Bell in 1986, accused him of what amounts to a flatness, not only in language, but in artistic vision; in this view, Carver leaves his characters in lives of quiet desperation see Saltzman 1988, 178-82. This idea of not listening is also important because it highlights the theme of communication or rather the lack of it.