Raymond Carver utilizes many different literary devices to manipulate his short stories. Out of all the possible literary tools, I feel that his word choice is the most important in creating a "hook" that captures a reader. He tends to take a seemingly unimportant, commonplace event and turn it into an enthrallingly interesting moment. There is a direct correlation between this diction and how these ordinary events become so intricate. He has been known to revise his stories many different times, and thus, has different versions of them. One of the main purposes of revising is to ascertain exactly the best language and words to emphasize a theme or point within a story. He uses these exact measures to ensure that he can maximize the impact of his stories. This heightened text often leaves ambiguous meanings and interpretations in his work. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to show how the diction employed in the stories "What's in Alaska?", "Fat", and "Collectors" contribute to their respective meanings and impact the reader.

In "What's In Alaska?", there are four main characters: Jack, Mary, Helen, and Carl. The story is set up around a totally normal s

eeming premise, four friends hanging out and smoking marijuana in their apartment. The intricacies arise in the conversation and banter exchanged throughout the evening. There is one instance in which Jack is bathing and he is conversing with Mary and he asks her to hand him a towel because he is getting out. A reader would normally expect there to be a couple of lines following that dialogue which might relate somehow to her handing him a towel. Instead of doing this, Carver jumps straight to Mary, who says, "I'll go and set the table." There is no mention of whether or not she actually did hand him a towel. This leads a reader to think that maybe she didn't, and maybe there are some tensions between the two.

In another scene, Carl decides that he is going to go into the kitchen, and Mary says that she will go along. Jack watches them, and he "squints" to see Carl reaching up towards a cupboard. Then he sees Mary move up against him from behind and put her arms around his waist. Meanwhile, Helen is talking to Jack about going to Alaska. She says something to Jack, but Jack does not reply. Carver then writes (about Jack), "He stared at her." Who exactly is Jack staring at? Is he staring at the embrace shared between Mary and Carl or just Helen? However the reader chooses to interpret this remark is imperative to the meaning he/she might construe about the story.

In one aspect, he may be waiting for a letter pertaining to work. This is quite easy to arrive at. However, he may have been waiting for a letter from Mrs. Slater, who "...doesn't live there." Along comes this door to door salesman and asks for Mrs. Slater. He proceeds to cl

Some common words found in the essay are:
Carl Helen, Tom Harry, Raymond Carver, Helen Carl, Mary I'll, Jack Jack, Mary Jack, Fat Collectors, What's Alaska, Meanwhile Helen, waiting letter, hand towel, towards fat, carver writes, raymond carver, what's alaska,
Approximate Word count = 1124
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)