Why Don't You Dance: Raymond Carver Response

Why Don’t You Dance?

The man waved his hand at this preposterous question.

 "Name a figure," he said.

 He looked at them as they sat at the table. In the lamplight, there was something

about their faces. It was nice or it was nasty. There was no telling.

Arms about each other, their bodies pressed together, the boy and the girl moved up and down the driveway. They were dancing. And when the record was over, they did it again, and when that one ended, the boy said. "I'm drunk."

Weeks later, she said: "The guy was about middle-aged. All his things right there

in his yard. No lie. We got real pissed and danced. In the driveway. Oh, my God. Don't

laugh. He played us these records. Look at this record-player. The old guy give it to us. and all these crappy records. Will you look at this shit?

1.What kind of details does Carver choose to describe the “place?” 
Described it as a random assortment of items that would be part of a house. The “candy-striped” pillow, buffed aluminum kitchen set, and the way he just set up the whole scene so you could imagine everything exactly where it is.

2.What do the following passages tell you about the place? 

“The girl sat on the bed. She pushed off her shoes and lay back. She thought she could see a star.”

“Lights came on in the houses up and down the street.”

It’s set almost in a suburb with a decent sized neighborhood. It was far enough from the city to see stars in the sky but enough neighbors to be worried about being seen.

3.Now look at the passages that you chose. How do they talk about the place? Why are they important or unimportant? 

It’s really backwards the way the girl talks about the place and what happened in the last paragraph. The feel, and the way it seemed the girl was acting at the time was almost a complete opposite. She was filled with curiosity and indulging in everything provided for her. She describes her experience as a one to be laughed at when she was most likely the one to provoke the whole thing. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she was in a different state of mind.