The Most Important American Fiction Writer - 1661 Words

Raymond Carver has been called â€Å"the most important American fiction writer in the second half of the twentieth century† and â€Å"the most influential American short story writer since Ernest Hemingway† (Kleepe vii). He was very successful despite his many difficult life experiences. Carver grew up during a very difficult time in America. However, early on, Carver and his wife believed their hard work would eventually pay off despite the challenges in the world around them. They thought it would fix almost everything. However, throughout his life of dead end jobs and child rearing, Carver realized that things weren’t going to change and eventually wound up divorced. In many ways, Carver’s life was the model for all of his main characters.†¦show more content†¦The life of the blue-collar worker became increasingly difficult. It has been said, â€Å"Of the writers who depicted the history of this ‘blue-collar despair,’ none did so fully and accurately as Raymond Carver† (Meyer 1). While growing up, his family was very poor. Raymond Carver was married with two children before the age of twenty. Therefore, he worked many low paying jobs such as pumping gas, sweeping hospital corridors, and managing an apartment complex in order to support his family. Carver mainly used lower-middle-class characters in his stories because that is the type of person he was most familiar with. When asked about having sympathy towards his characters, Carver said, â€Å"In all the books so far, I could never have been condescending to those characters and felt myself any sort of writer at all. I have to care for the people in the stories. These are my people. I can’t offend them, and I wouldn’t† (Alton 9). Earl Ober, the main character in â€Å"They’re Not Your Husband,† is an unemployed salesman who uses his business strategies to convince his wife to go on a diet. The narrator and main cha racter of Raymnd Carver’s story, â€Å"Fat,† is a waitress who serves people both at work and at home. His main characters also include mechanics, postmen, high school teachers, and factory workers (â€Å"Raymond Carver†). Even if the desperation is not significant to the