Sunday, March 6, 2011

"Neighbors" by Raymond Carver (p. 137)

To me, minimalism is when you do everything minimally. You use the fewest resources when building or the fewest amount of ingredients when baking. You try to conserve as many resources as possible no matter what you may be using them for. You don't like to waste anything or any time doing needless tasks. Minimalism could also go towards how you do your job or spend your free time.

Examples that illustrate minimalism.

1. Carver sets the scene of Bill and Arlene taking care of their neighbors apartment while they are away somewhere which he could have put in especially since the Millers' were being kind enough to look after their home.
2. The kitty... she could have been described more and maybe given a name although Kitty seems to be minimal enough to let us know.
3. When Bill took the pills from the cabinet at the Stones' apartment. The only description we received was that they were for Harriet Stone and she was supposed to take one a day. He slipped them into his pocket not even knowing what exactly they were.
4. The Millers' were supposed to water the plants. They filled the picture and went to water. Went to water what? A few more details would have surely set the scene more for us as readers.





1 comment:

  1. So now, what do these details tell you??? What can you infer as a result of these tid-bits?

    ReplyDelete