Literature Analysis Essay on 'Fat' by Raymond Carver

Introduction

Raymond Carver, 'Fat' is an exciting story where a narratology approach is useful in the explanation of the thematic process which Carver uses to explain the thematic nature that is found in this short story. I like the novel by Raymond because he writes about real people, real-life situations, and the feelings that they have towards life and nature. Ready with the concept that Carver uses real-life situations in the purest form of language and style to bring out his thoughts and make his stories more interesting, I used Fat, one of his shortest stories to illustrate several issues of narratology that are evident in the narrative.

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The good thing about this story is that it is short, and it is mainly a conversation between the narrator and the friend called Rita. The narrator tells Rita how she served a kind and generous fat man in the restaurant she works in where they talk about the encounter she has with this man. He is different from her friends, who are most of the time commanding and do not care about her feelings. They at point talk about his massive size mostly about his fat fingers, "long, thick, creamy fingers" (Carver 5). I feel that the narrator in this short story uses it to criticize fat shaming as well as body policing which were very evident at that time though they were not quickly spoken about like they in the current time (Bal and Van Boheemen 4). The fatness of this man reminds the readers of a fat person they once knew, and even if we all remember about the obese person, most are the times we remember about the fat and not the person in particular. The waitress who is the narrator in this story serves the man better than she does any other customer in the restaurant due to the sympathy she had on him due to his big size and the way people made fun about his statue.

Fabula and Sjuzhet

The fabula in this story shows several characters who include; Margo a workmate to the narrator and teases the narrator by asking her who her fat friend is. Leander is also a workmate to the narrator, and he also comments about the physical appearance of the man, but the narrator defends him(Bal and Van Boheemen 6). Harriet is another character in this short story, which calls the man an old tub of guts and Rudy, who is the boyfriend to the narrator, comments about the massive size of the man. Throughout the fabula, the narrator is seen to showcase to the readers the interactions she has with her colleagues and how she connects to the man even if she is yet to be aware of the fact that a secure connection exists between them. The order of events that take place in this story are arranged in

The Sjuzhet is mainly focused on the theme of connection, choice, control, and change. It is narrated in the first person, and I feel that this helps the readers to learn about the unnamed waitress who is the narrator and her relationship with the fat man as well as with other people that are close to her (Al-Mansoob 216). The story has a beginning, a middle and an end as many different accounts do have, and this story begins with the narrator explaining to Rita about an extra-large man who came to the diner. The narrator noticed his long, thick and creamy fingers first and I realize that the author of this short story used this image of the fat fingers to aid his choice of characters in the development of the stories they talk and how they connect their views with each other and the option of a life they live.

The narrator, on several occasions, uses the fingers of the man to explain his physical appearance to Rita, and this is important to the readers. It helps them to understand the physical statue of the fat man as well as the connection he has with the waiter (Al-Mansoob 219). Later on in the story, I realize that the image of the fingers is used again to show the readers about Rita and make them understand the difference between the physical state as well as the mode of treatment of Rita to the narrator as well as that of the man to the narrator. After the narrator serves the fat man bread and salad, he comments, "we have not always eaten like this...but, there is no choice" (Carver 3). The man uses "we" instead of I to address himself, and this tries to bring in a connection between the man and the narrator.

Epiphany

Later at night, as the waitress lies in bed, she gets abused by Rudy, and she has wild thoughts of how she would be fat like the man in the diner, and she would feel her boyfriend on top of her as if he did not exist. This is evident to the reader that the narrator has a poor relationship with her boyfriend, and she even confesses to the reader that she is depressed and wants her life to change (Al-Mansoob 223). She does not have control where she compares herself with her obese friend as her boyfriend rapes her, and this is real evidence why she treats her customer very well as all her workmates make fun of him. The diner is always busy, and the colleagues of the narrator comment on the size of the fat man on different occasions while the narrator is serving her customer.

This story is derived from the epiphany of Joycean but is more powerful where the characters are seen to feel the narration behind the main idea, but they rarely see the primary purpose. The image of the obese man, Rita, and the narrator is used in the identification of the reader concerning the narrator to the clueless Rita who blankly listens on to the story about the fat man (Rutter 3). The appearance that is evident in this story is that of how people perceive obese people, but the readers should see the symbolism that is evident in the story and not the broad picture of obesity. The narratology evident in this story uses mimesis and diegesis modes where the life of the narrator changes after she meets the fat man, and they have a connection which grows over time.

Carver used the first person, epiphany, and symbolism. The proairetic code that is brought out in this short story is that the first person narrative demonstrates identity, especially the historical study of personification. This story is a story within a story where the waitress who is the narrator gives Rita a story about the obese man she found in the diner (Perreault 5). A sparse and lean style which contrasts with the theme of obesity and emotional excess frame the different layers of meanings and feelings by which the story unfolds. The narrator's right structure, which is cryptic makes an address to all readers in the beginning and conclusion lines that are easy to grasp. At this level, the story explains to the readers about people who live evil lives and prey on the weaknesses of other people who are isolated and unlucky. The frame of the story is based on a direct and indirect approach where it is told indirectly through Ruby and directly through the waitress where she chooses to reveal what is most specific to her. What she wants to acknowledge is brought out in the opening lines, "here is what I tell her" (Carver 1). She also chooses to disclose more information towards the end by confiding that "I feel depressed." She also has hopes that her life will change in the long term.

Suspense is eminent in the story where the reader knows nothing about the life of the waitress as well as her background neither do we know about the life of the other characters. Several questions may arise from the short story where the readers may have questions like, "What is the connection that exists between her encounter with the fat man and the life she lives?". "How will her life change after the story is over?" Images are used instead of metaphors, and this helps the readers to understand the style that the images accomplish (Perreault 7). The fat man explains to her how the choice of changing her life is in her hands, and she needed no person to explain to her how her life should be. This makes her have different thoughts about her abusive and insolent boyfriend, and she gets to know the possibilities that existed with her searching for better options rather than the rude friends and boyfriend she had.

Poetics are visible in the story where metaphors, similes, repetitions, rhythms, and voices prompt the readers to understand the story better. Examples of poetics used in the story are "the fat man" (Carver 4), "And he makes a little puffing sound every so often" (Carver 4), "Who's your fat friend? He's a fatty" (Carver, 5). These poetics play a significant role in helping the readers realize the extent to which the fat man faced a lot of ridicule from different people all over where he goes due to his size. The author of this story is successful in his use of such poetics to make his work more understandable to the readers by making it more simple to understand and get the concept of the story itself.

Mode and Focalisation

Mimetic simplicity is evident in this story, where the word 'fat' is used to show the obese customer whom she tells Rita about. The word fat is emphasized a lot in the entire story, and it has a significant impact on the readers and the strength of the work (Whitehead 360). It also signals that it can work as a narrative by itself or as a narrative process. A reader can decipher themselves by reconstituting their wholeness simultaneously. When Rudy laughs about the fat man, it has a great significance because of the repetition aspect where he repeats the story about the fat man and two fat guys he studied with back in school. The story combines both mimesis and diegesis to ensure that it is linked to the summary idea by the author.

The localization in the story is explained by the narrator where she does most of the speaking telling to Rita about the obese man and at other points defends the man when her colleagues at work make fun of him and call him names regarding his body size. The perspectives are left to the reader of the story to read and understand the deep meaning of the different perceptions brought out by the author in his display of the characters in the short story (Whitehead 367). The narrator at times is unable to see what the turn of events will impact on her life and does not understand the connection that exists between her and the big man even as he tries to make it evident to her several times by using "we" instead of "I" on several occasions while the narrator is serving him. The reader is the focal point in this excerpt as even the characters do not have a firm idea of the connection between the man and the waitress. Only the reader can understand that a relationship was bound to happen at a specific time even if the narrator could not get that.

The story has both an internal focalization as well as an external focalization. The external focalization is brought out where the view is directed to what the individuals of the story think. Many of the characters in the story feel that the fat man is too obese to be eating the massive amounts of food he ingests and this guides them to have negative thoughts about the fat man with a lot of criticism (Whitehead 376). The internal focalization in this story is evident in the connection that is found between the narrator and the man from the diner. The narrator, as well as her co-workers, do not have any idea that the connection exists and it would have been hard for a reader to get the concept even if they were incorporated in the story. The narrator in the short story is homodiegetic who is given a role in the story and plays a significant role in the display of the fat man whom she defends most of the time and slowly develop a connection to.

Time and Speech

The story has a time sequence of a flashback where the narrator is telling Rita of a past event that happened when she encountered a fat man with extraordinarily significant body parts. Rita, on the other hand, seems not to be listening to the story. In the end, she tells the narrator that that is a...