The major differences in these two versions of the same story A Bath and A Small, Good Thing include the extension of plot, point of view, and dialog. In The Bath, the outcome of the child Scotty's condition is unknown to us. This creates a tension in the story that is not released, a promise of closure unfulfilled. This is something I wrestle with in my own writing, as I sometimes feel it is too obvious to wade into the mess of the plot. This, in fact, neglects the reader. A Small, Good Thing is a much more satisfying story because we experience the tragedy of Scotty's death as well as the redemption of the baker. The extension of the plot also creates a greater sense of the tragedy because we understand that everyone in this story is a victim, the parents, the doctors, and the baker himself.
There are other components to the writing that increase the reader's investment in the second story. First, Carver gives all the characters names, a basic attribute that brings the reader closer to the story. Secondly, Carver spends more time inside the point of view of both Ann and Howard. While we spend most of our time in Ann’s point of view, and feel her disconnection and despair in The Bath, the father is fully known. He has no name, and we hear only a bit of his thoughts regarding the situation. In A Small, Good Thing, Carver not only heightens the connection of the reader to Ann and Howard by actively naming them, but also shows how they are connected to each other. In a mirroring perhaps of Carver’s authorial relationship to Howard in The Bath, he has Ann reflect.
“For the first time, she felt they were together in this trouble. She realized with a start that, until now, it had only been happening to her and to Scotty. She hadn’t let Howard into it, though he was there and needed all along. She felt glad to be his wife.” (p.409) The reader has a real sense of them as individual people suffering, and as a united couple trying to make sense of what has befallen their son.
Ann is a far more dimension character in this story because Carver has given her feelings as well as thoughts. She feels uncomfortable in her initial meeting with the baker. She feels glad to have Howard by her side. She feels empathy and community with the Negro family waiting for their son. She feels anxiety and fear about Scotty. She feels anger at the baker, she even wants to kill him. She confronts the baker, seeking some unnamed revenge, bringing the story to its climax. She is a far more active character. That action elicits more of a response from the reader than does her flat affect in The Bath. In the Bath, we experience her as frozen by fear, but there is little beyond that one emotion.
The same is true of Howard. In The Bath, Howard has two instances where we are shown how he is experiencing this situation. On his ride home from the hospital we learn, “It had been a good life till now. There had been work, fatherhood, and family. The man had been lucky and happy. But fear made him want a bath.” (p.252) And when he returns, “He felt more fear now. He began shaking his head. He talked to himself. The child is fine. Instead of sleeping at home, he’s doing it here.” (p.253) In A Small, Good Thing, the description of his drive home is richer. We learn about his career, his whole family, that his parents are still alive. We feel all the abundance of his good safe lucky life. In the dialogue between he and Ann when she has gone home to bathe, he is supportive while expressing his own anxiety. “Jesus, I’m not hungry either. Ann, it’s hard to talk now.” (p.415) And most poignantly, after Scotty has died we see him breaking down in Ann’s lap, attempting to pick up the toys in the living room, and hugging the bicycle in the garage. The more we empathize with him, the more we have at stake in the story.
Even the doctor, Dr. Francis is given more emotional depth in A Small, Good Thing. He calls Ann, “little mother”. He is expresses a desire for things to be different from how they are when he says “Still I wish he’d wake up. He should wake up pretty soon.” (p. 407). He tells the Weiss’ repeatedly to eat, to rest to take a break from the situation. And then he says he understands if they don’t. And finally, when Scotty has died, Dr. Francis spends a great deal of time with Ann and Howard comforting them through hugs and quiet talk.
Dialog also contributes to the intimacy of the reader’s relationship with the characters. In The Bath, the dialog exchanges are short. In A Small, Good Thing there is not only more dialog but the detail of the dialog contributes more to the story line. Prime examples of this are the conversations between Ann and Howard which help build their relationship for the reader. In the Bath Ann offers, “I’ve been praying”. The response to which is “Me too,” the father said, “I’ve been praying too.”
In A Small, Good Thing, Ann the exchange goes as follows:
“I’ve been praying,” she said.
He nodded.
She said, “I almost thought I’d forgotten how, but it came back to me. All I had to do was close my eyes and say, ‘Please God, help us-help Scotty,’ and the rest was easy. The words were right there. Maybe if you prayed, too,” she said to him.
“I’ve already prayed,” he said. “I prayed this afternoon-yesterday afternoon, I mean—after you called, while I was driving to the hospital. I’ve been praying,” he said. (pp. 408-409) It is this interchange that leads her to the epiphany I cited earlier where she realizes they are both in this together. Such a realization would have been jolting in The Bath where their common purpose had not been articulated to the reader.
In The Bath, Carver’s characters have our sympathy in a global, theoretical way that I have sympathy for Hurricane Katrina survivors. I feel badly for them all, but I don’t have any knowledge of what it was really like. I don’t know any survivors but I feel horrible for them. I know people who are family members from the 9-11 planes, I know their families and I suffer with them. In A Small, Good Thing, Carver has us suffer with Ann and Howard Weiss.
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