After having read Carver’s Why don’t
you dance? for the first time, I had to read it again because even though
it is a short story, there’s a lot implied (or understated). The first instance
we are introduced to is when the old man is taking the furniture out of his
house in order to sell it in his front yard. As seen in class, it is
interesting the fact that this man is selling even his bed, which clearly reflects
not only a proof of him without a partner, but also a loss of intimacy as
everyone can have access to his private life. By the same token, the furniture
demonstrates the way human beings are connected to stuff, in this case
furniture, and that there’s a process of devaluation (personal stuff should not
have a price). According to the previous idea, we can infer that he is alone
and furniture maybe reminds him of his past life (and that is why he wants to
get rid of it). Then, a young couple arrives at this man’s front yard in order
to buy furniture for their apartment. Here it can be appreciated that there’s a
duality as the old man is finishing a moment of his life and the couple is
starting one, yet they want everything cheaper. This desire also anticipates
what would probably happen with them: they are not going to last much. Later
on, there’s an experience that provides a break from routine which is the
dancing part. While dancing, they are supposed to express themselves, though
communication is not present.
I consider that this image reflects a moment to remember and value for
every couple. This mere hand-holding can be something very common, but from my
point of view, it symbolizes love and compromise between two people.
Additionally, it should be considered as a reminder, that is, what allows a
couple to remember what their union means and to dream of a future full of
unforgettable experiences.
In conclusion, people should always give value to things, though this
value must not be materialistic as furniture; on the contrary, this value has
to be a more personal one that let people remember what really matters: to live.
Camila,
ResponderBorrarI think you did a pretty good post here. On the first place, I think you made good connections between the short story and the lectures given about it. Plus you related all that with the your perceptions about love and life.
I totally agree with you when you talk about the implied messages in the story. It is possible to see how these people interact with each other without say much words to each other (the old man-coulple & young guy-young girl interaction). It all looks like an interaction of two generations looking at each other with different perspectives of each other.
The desires of the young couple to start a new-and-fresh live looks like an honest and noble pursuit. Although, the thoughts and words given by older generations are contrary to what it is expected when starting this new process. They claim and assure the failure of those plans as they have seen how it all ends. They might be right; they might assert on everything they claim, but the question I have (and it can be transfer to this story as well) wouldn't it be those thoughts the reason of the failure more than the real actions? In other words what I mean with that is that
as humans we tend to make claims about things without taking care of the impact they can generate. If the claim is correct and happens what was predicted, the most common answer is "I told you so and you didn't listen". In contrary, if that doesn't happen, and everything works out unlike the expectations, it is all just a good luck.
What if the claims of society are the responsable of the failure of other people's mistakes more than the real actions that triggered the failure?
In a way, the old man also represents most of the expectations that society and everyone, in general, tend to have when seeing a someone starting a process.
If the old man is right, he can proudly say "I told you so", but he is not, this can be just the story of a happy couple -with communication issues, as anyone in this life, that bought furniture to an old man.
Finally, I think the connection you made with your personal thoughts are very accurate and contribute to what it can be understood by love and life.
Great Job Camila!
I agree with your opinion Camila, sometimes people tend to forget that living is the most important thing. Nowadays, people work very hard in order to achieve economic succes, and in the process they left their families, their lives, everything that really matters, just for the sake of money. Why don't you dance? reflects this behaviour that is present in our society, we value materialistic things as more important than people. As you said, maybe the young couple is not going to last together, and if we look carefully at them we could start to understand why divorce is so common in our days, in my humble opinion: lack of communication.
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ResponderBorrarThe conections you made were really thorough and never came to my mind when I read the story. Among others, I think that we are watching to different kinds of generation and their vision to love. First, we can see the old man who, in in spite of all, he still enjoys the simple things of life. The simple things of life can be related to love. The old man enjoyed dancing, enjoyed the records while laying on the sofa drinking a beer. He has a vision of life that might has been shaped through his past experience,
ResponderBorrarthat I can infer that he is going through an inner pain, a loss of someone meaningful, his wife, might be. But overall, he still enjoyed life, and the simple things of it. On the other side, we find the young man, rather impulsive, who did not enjoyed staring at the sky while laying on the bed with his girlfriend. He was hesitant to kiss her when he asked to. And, of course, he was not into dancing. He was more into the purchase, rather that enjoying the moment. I can also infer, that he was not in love with his girlfriend, he did not know what love is, therefore, as you well said, the young couple is really likely not to last so long.