Carver, "The Student's Wife"

  Carver so creatively captured such extreme emotions of desperation and yearning in his piece “The Student's Wife.” I loved how these strong emotions were conveyed so subtly through a conversation. The details were not thrown at the reader but rather woven into the melancholic conversation and descriptions. The subtle build up of tension was continuous throughout the piece. I got impatient a few times when Nan kept on with the conversations, and when Carver confined the setting to the room. However, I felt this was a very interesting way to make me relate to the character-Nan who was miserable and desperate to break free from the life she was living.

My favourite part was the ending. It was so unexpected and such a big contrast to the subtle conveyance of desperation. It almost felt like an explosion of the tension that was building up. I thought it perfectly summed up and magnified the serious issue at hand.