Although the plot in Raymond Carver's "A Small Good Thing" mirrors that of his early work "The Bath" his use of different literary techniques leaves the reader with a completely different outlook on human connection. Carver's different use of mood, diction, and description brings about contradicting views of human connection. He leaves the reader with the perception of humans as distant in "The Bath." Even though "A Small Good Thing" has the same plot, Carver leaves the reader with the perception that humans are connected beings.
             The lack of detail of human emotion in "The Bath" leaves the reader with a cold and dark perception of the way humans are connected. Raymond Carver wrote with the absent of all human personality. For example he almost never refers to anyone by their name. Instead the characters are referred to as "the mother," "the father," "the man," "the woman." The absence of human quality extends into the conversations. Nothing is gone into detail because everything is on a need to know basis. All of the conversations are very direct. The reader does not even need to know the ending of "The Bath" because the point is already made. As soon as the husband hangs up on the baker the first time without asking questions you know that the people are not connected at all, nor do they take the time out to be connected.
             On the other hand Raymond Carver leaves the reader with a completely different perception of human connection in "A Small Good Thing." He gives all of the characters their own personality. This makes us perceive the characters have much more of an understanding for each other and how they are each reacting to their son being in the hospital after being hit by a car. Since they have personalities, conversations are made and the reader is able to know how the person is feeling an...