The Student's Wife Reflection

The Student’s Wife exhibits the kind of writing style I wish to integrate into my own writing. Raymond Carver creates two characters that become so real and relatable in just a short prose piece. Carver begins with husband who is tired and ready for bed, but when his wife wakes up the bland characters that were briefly introduced become dimensional in an unexpected way. Carver first illustrates the character’s actions, which adds better detail than saying “the husband was tired” or “his wife sat up and wanted to talk to him while he tried to sleep.” An example of detail that stuck out for me was when the husband asks his wife about her dream. We know, without the writer explicitly saying so, that the husband is asking out of courtesy and not genuine interest because he asks her this as he turns onto his side away from her. Along with the details, Carver adds dialogue that gives the characters, especially the wife, dimension. When the wife starts listing her likes and dislikes, we the readers are entering her thoughts. We don’t know who Janice Hendricks is but we know that she means something to the wife and therefore wanders around in her mind. The wife at the end says that she wants to “live a good honest life without having to worry about money and bills and things like that.” So much is revealed about the wife in that section of dialogue, however I’m still left surprised when she gets on her knees and prays for God’s help at the end. This is the kind depth I want for the characters I write about. I want to keep my readers surprised like Carver has done beautifully.