Neighbors:Minimalism

Minimalism is where the author focus's on the vivid details of a story instead of just saying what happened. They go to great depth to give the reader the image of what is happening through out the story. The author wants the reader to feel like he or she is in the story with the characters and participating/observing what is happening.

I, for one, am not a huge fan of this type of righting because it is hard for me to follow the outline, and what actually is going on. I tend to misread some information because I am so caught up with the details of the story instead of the concept or lessons learned in the story.

In the story Neighbors, written by Raymond Carver, use of minimalism is outstanding. When  Bill's neighbors leave for a trip to Cheyenne,Wyoming, Carver goes into great detail about how Bill truly feels about Harriet and Jim Stone,the neighbors. He feels as though the Stone's are higher in "class", as if they were richer and lead a more extravagant live then he and his wife. Another great example is when Bill goes to the Stone's to feed their cat, Bill examines "the canned goods,the cereals, the packaged foods, the cocktail and wine glasses, the china, the pots and pans."(page 138) Carver goes on to explain that Bill goes to the bedroom and tries on all the Stone's clothing( even Harriet's).