Proof

Just by reading a scene, it makes me want to read the whole book and even watch the movie. I think it’s a very interesting story. It manages to portrait the characters only through the way they speak and act, without any description. Also the dialogue is very active and it is able to capture the reader’s attention. I think the good thing about theater plays is that the dialogue makes the story more realistic because we know exactly what each character says so it is possible to recreate the scene as if it was happening in real life.

I really like how Catherine is portrayed in this scene. She seems to be very selfish and mean with her father and with Hal but somehow the reader is not repulsed by her character. I think there’s a deeper reason for her behavior. It is interesting that she has inherited her father’s skills in mathematics but it also seems that she has inherited her father’s insanity. Maybe she blames her father so much because she knows that she’s like him. I think the reason for her behavior may be her father’s death but she’s also kind of aware of her similarity with him and is afraid to end up like him. She never stops claiming that he’s crazy, “The problem is you are crazy!”, “There’s nothing up there. It’s garbage. (…) He was crazy. There’s no ideas. It’s like a monkey at a typewriter. A hundred and three notebooks full of bullshit.” This shows us that she’s trying to convince herself that she’s not crazy, that she’s not like her father. When she’s talking with Hal, she says “No. I’m not crazy”, the words “I’m” are in italics, which stresses the point that she doesn’t want to be like him.

Also in her imaginary conversation with her father, she expresses her fear of having inherited his insanity. Her father tells her: “There are all kinds of factors. It’s not simply something you inherit. Just because I went bughouse doesn’t mean you will.” I think she’s kind of stuck in her life because she thinks she’s going to end up like Robert, she can’t move on and be successful because of this. Her father has had a huge impact on her, she not only inherited his abilities but her depression and her fear of not being normal is also provoked by what happened to him. We also notice their similarities when Catherine says that his father talked to people who weren’t there or imagined that aliens were sending him codes, but Catherine is also imagining having conversations with his dead father.

I think that when her father says that it is a good sign that they can talk about Catherine’s problems he means that it is a good sign that she is able to recognize what she’s doing wrong. She is aware that she may be crazy, she knows it’s not normal having conversations with dead people. “Crazy people don’t sit around wondering if they’re nuts.” Which is what Catherine does all the time, sits around wondering if she’s like her father, if she’s going to have the same life. Therefore, she’s not crazy. Crazy people are just crazy, they don’t realize it. I think that further on in the story Catherine will be able to forget about his father’s illness and appreciate his talent, so she’ll be able to move on and be herself, not an image of her dead father’s flaws. At least that’s what I would like to happen next in the story, it would be kind of boring if she had the same life as her father.

Why do you think “Proof” was the title of this play? Do you think the biological inheritances will turn out to be stronger than Catherine's unique personality? Is she condemned to have the same destiny as her father?

responding to the play

I felt like the dialog moved fast which made it more affective. What was going on in the scene was very sad. Is Catherine crazy? does she have any hope of turning her life around? I think that after her fathers funeral she may finlay get it together. That last blow with Hal reality checked her. The whole time Catherine and Hal were arguing i was thinking she was completely out of line and selfish. It really pissed me off that she would not listen to a word that he was saying because he had a good point. She was only being pessimistic and not even thinking about her dead father. Obviously she loved him very much. Why wouldn't she want his work published, its what he would have wanted. I hope she apologizes to Hal in future scenes in the play. The dialog had a lot of emotion in it. I could really here each individual voice and see the looks on each persons face as they spoke. At first i thought she was sweet on Hal but maybe i am the only one who flirts with people by being mean, I like testing guys. After reading the untitled scene i think that it will help me grow to write dialog. I'm a little nervous because its hard to really connect with readers if your dialog is boring. I'm afraid my dialog will be boring.

Proof

The dialogue format is different from a short story, where the author describes and narrates, but it still draws the reader into the action. The only description comes in brief notes, so a lot depends on the actor (when it is performed), and on small sentence details (when it is read): question marks, exclamation points, ellipsis, italics, dashes, etc. These small details animate the dialogue, because they indicate how the characters are delivering their lines. For example, when Robert says to Catherine, "After midnight..." (pg. 5), the ellipsis helps get across that he is a father, that he is concerned about his daughter, that he wants to talk and waits for an answer. In a short story the author may directly describe the two characters, but that intrusion into the dialogue can be trimmed by punctuating effectively. When Catherine is on the phone with the police, her sentence is cut off with an em dash, and it stops the reader short, so that the dramatic moment is captured: "Yes, I'm at 5724 South—" (pg. 22). There's no need for a narrator to explain that she stopped short, it's already in the dialogue.

I thought the author kept the dialogue interesting by developing the characters. At first it seems that Catherine is just talking to her father on the porch, which might get boring after a while, but then we learn that he is actually dead, which gives her character and her dialogue a whole new direction. The same thing happens with Harold. Catherine accuses him of stealing, and she is proven wrong when she checks his bag. But we still don't know who he really is, whether he is trying to make himself famous by her father's work, or whether he is an innocent math teacher who respected his mentor. When the notebook falls out of his jacket, it's another surprise in the story, and his character appears to have selfish intentions. But then we learn why he has the notebook, and our previous questions about him are answered. These small moments of suspense and character development help the dialogue so that it has a purpose, and doesn't just seem like two people talking on a porch. The reader wants to continue reading the conversation because it adds up to something larger, a story.

If you had to guess about the rest of the play, do you think that Catherine is crazy herself, or is she just grieving?

Are These Actual; Miles?

This story was short and real. I liked the way it seemed like something that someone I knew went through. It was a realistic yet sad story.
The story seems as though Leo and Toni met by fate. They seemed to at one point be in love with getting everything they wanted if not with eachother. Leo was it seems in love with Toni from the beginnning. He bought children's encyclopedia's from her without even having children.
As the story progresses, it seems so obvious that Toni doesn't have respect for her husband. She teases him in such a way would break someones' heart that is in love with them to hear. She tell's him he's nothing and that he has no money and his credit is lousy. These things would kill a mans pride to hear from a woman he loves. She tries to act as though she means it jokingly, but to me it seems as though she is mad at him for the situations she helped them to be in. She is acting as though his opinion doesn't matter and doesn't take him seriously. She puts in the time and effort to dress up to sell the car and promises to call , but fails to do so until after its been hours after she was supposed to and at that, she continuously talks over him and cuts him off. She treats him as though he doesn't matter.
Leo is left to ponder what has become of his life. He has thoughts of suicide and I believe that becuse of the constant disrespect from his beloved and the fact that he feels worthless as a provider makes this seem like an alternative. He drinks heavily it seems to mask the pain and thoughts but can dismiss them from his clouded head. He is worried about his wife, but it wasn't so clear to me at first whether he wa worried about her saftey or that she was going to leave him for someone else.
I believe though that being in the situation he was in warrants him to be worried about those things when his wife is as Toni is. A superficial, materialistic, snob it seems. She tells him that she is on her way home only to stubble in intoxicated and ignorant at dawn. Leo struggles to stay in control eventhough his emotion would be fair in this case go off on her ass. She is however "so much" to him. She is impaortant ans the fact that he will start over on Monday and make it all right keeps him hanging on.
At the end of the story when he stop the man in the convertible, i wondered why he felt the need to explain about Monday. He wanted to prove something more that defend his pride it seemed. I would've expected more drama. The man asks "are these actual miles?" as though it was maybe too good to be true. Just like the deal it seems he has just gotten. A night with Leo's wife and a car for a steal of a price.
Leo's obvious obessionwith the car though is caught at the end mostly when he strips his wife of her clothes, and traces he stretchmarks with his fingers back and forth, thinking they are like roads. He remembers then the morning after they bought the car and it gleaming in the drive way from the sun.
I wish this story had a little more to it. I liked it alot. folled it well, but was disappointed with the ending. I think a bit more passion should have been invloved.

Are These Actual Miles?

I think that by using the title “Are these actual miles?” Raymond Carver wanted to stress on how important the convertible was for Leo and Toni. It makes us think about their past, the miles they rode on that car and everything they had lived together which is now gone with their bankruptcy. I like the fact that the title is an extract of the dialogue in the story: “Well, goodnight, the man says and coughs. Take it easy, hear? Monday, that’s right. Okay, then. He takes his foot off the brake, puts it on again after he has rolled back two or three feet. Hey, one question. Between friends, are these actual miles? The man waits, the clears his throat. Okay, look, it doesn’t matter either way, the man says. I have to go. Take it easy.”

Because Carver chose the title “Are these actual miles?” we know that the climax of the story is located at this point, in the dialogue between Leo and the man who bought the car. We can notice that the central theme of the story is Leo’s life and how desperate and lonely he feels. He is always abandoned by people who never take time to have a proper conversation. There’s a sense of rapidity and stress in the whole story.

First of all, the way that the story is written gives a sense of anxiety and pressure by listing action verbs one after another without stopping: “He circles the kitchen and goes back to the living room. He sits. He gets up. In the bathroom he brushes his teeth very carefully. The he uses dental floss. He washes his face and goes back to the kitchen” and so on.

Second, this sense of stress and anxiety is also shown on what we said before, the fact that Leo is always wanting to talk and wanting people to wait, not to hurry, to take time to explain things to him or to be with him. “I told you, she says. I have to go now. Wait, wait a minute, for Christ’s sake, he says. Did somebody buy the car or not? He had his checkbook out when I left, she says. I have to go now. I have to go to the bathroom. Wait! He yells. The line goes dead.” Also, Toni always hangs up first, without even saying goodbye or letting him finish his sentences.

It’s the same situation when Leo encounters the man who bought the car, the man is about to leave, but Leo needs to talk to him. “Wait! Leo calls and starts down the steps. (…) What is it that you want? The man says. Look, the man says, I have to go. No offense. I buy and sell cars, right? The lady left her makeup. She’s a fine lady, very refined. What is it?”. I think that this story may be portraying the American society because it shows how some business people act. There are a lot of people that are always hurried and stressed, walking on the street without caring about others. Maybe the fact that Leo wants everyone to wait, to relax for a while, is showing that people are anxious almost all the time. I did some research and found that Carver changed the title of the story; before being entitled “Are these actual miles?” the story was entitled “What is it?”, a part of the dialogue that also shows stress and anxiety, which is also focused on Leo’s feelings.

Why do you think the author changed the title form “What is it” to “Are these actual miles”?
Would there be a difference if the author hadn’t introduced Ernest Williams as a witness?

are these actually miles?

When I first finished the story,I was a little confused because throughout the whole story I thought that Toni knew the reason why they were selling the car- but then at the end it became very clear that she had no idea what the real reason was. "Bankrupt!" she screams. She twists loose grabs and tears his undershirt at the neck. "You son of a bitch". I think that as a husband, it was not fair for him to keep her in the dark, considering all the trouble the she went through to help him get the car sold.

I think that it was really great the way in which carver uses description. there isnt to much detail yet the reader is still able to see what is actually going on in the story. There is not alot of drama in the story to grab the readers attention,but its still entertaining.

I also think that within the context of the short story, the author is saying a little bit about the debt problem that millions of American families face. He says on pg. 148 " they buy what they want. If they cant pay, they charge" and I think that so many people in todays society fall into this cycle. Leo is clearly someone who is unhappy with his own life- we can see through his heavy drinking habits that he is trying to avoid some type of reality. The whole instant gratifcation idea and depression kind of go hand and hand because many people think... oh I am sad- so let me buy things that I think will make me happy and as the the things they buy just continue to get bigger , so do the prices, and with those two things increasing, the hole that is within also gets bigger. So many people think they need so many material things to make them happy and hardly nobody realizes how unhappy its actually making them.

Im not sure if its because I am completly missing something- but the title threw me off a bit. I guess I can connect the miles part with the convertible but I dont understand why at the end Leo says "between friends, are these actaully miles?" and the man responds "look, it doesnt matter either way" p.151 . What does the title actaully mean? and do you think that anything that carver wrote in the context of this story reflects the society we live in today?

Are These Actual Miles?

I like the sparse writing-style that Raymond Carver uses. His descriptions are short and direct: “He sits. He gets up. In the bathroom he brushes his teeth very carefully. Then he uses dental floss” (pg. 149). Every once in a while the author incorporates a longer sentence, so it doesn’t seem like you’re reading a list. Even though the writing is brief, it still has some good detail. For example, he mentions at the beginning that Leo “taps his lips with his knuckles” (pg. 146), and later he “puts the heel of his hand against his eye and pushes” (pg. 149). These small mannerisms reveal a lot about the mind state of the character.

I also like how the author introduces Leo’s suicidal thoughts. He doesn’t write a dramatic scene, he just briefly mentions it. The reader notes it and moves on, and this reflects how Leo’s thoughts aren’t a moment of desperation, but a slow fog in his life, something that he just lives with and doesn’t think too much about. He eats chili and crackers and thinks about biting the rim of the glass and watches television and brushes his teeth. The understatement in the action makes the small details stand out even more. There could be more complex description, but if the reader gets inundated with detail, he may not pay as much attention.

If this story were continued, would Leo recover from his bankruptcy?