Carver has been quoted as saying that his stories could happen anywhere. That is pretty much true. Additionally, they are so contemporary that they require almost no background material or preparation for reading and understanding by an American audience. Popular Mechanics is a case in point, as this story with the every day problem of troubled martial relationship, the separation and the agony that follows such relationships. The two-page “Popular Mechanics” is a thought-provoking piece about a man deserting a woman–he wants to take their baby with him and in the scuffle that ensues each pulls the baby very hard by one arm. The piece concludes with a typical Carver understatement: “In this manner, the issue was decided.”

We often hurt those we love the most. The inability to be open with our feelings and convey honest emotion has caused the downfall of many a ‘perfect’ relationship. Raymond Carver must have known this firsthand when he composed the short story “Popular Mechanics”. He found no need to name the characters, for indeed, names are not required. The feelings are universal and all too easily identified with.
Immediately, Carver brings us into the midst of a relationship that has already gone horribly wrong. A very angry young woman, distraught over the inevitable departure of her husband, screams “I’m glad you’re leaving! Son of a bitch! I’m so glad you’re leaving!”

From these very few words the young woman utters, we begin to see how she relates emotionally. She is out of control and very angry at her husband. But she is crying, too, and it is here that Carver gives us a glimpse of the inner pain this young woman is truly feeling. That her love for her husband has not died. If her feelings were not so deep, his departure could never cause such pain. She pushes him away, yet with every word Carver writes, we know this is not what she truly wants. Rather, it is what Carver chooses not to write that leads us to believe just the opposite is true.She is blinded by her own pain, unable to simply ask her husband to stay and work things through.

And just who is this man, this husband? What role does he play in this failed marriage? Carver does not tell us how the impasse in this relationship has come about or what events transpired that are forcing the man to leave as ‘He did not answer’. Yet by his very refusal to acknowledge his wife, he is deeming her unworthy of his notice. He no longer cares to respond to her taunts. Surely he must know her well enough to realize the effect his silence will have. Through his own passive aggressive behavior he is striking back at his wife.
Carver does not stop here. He escalates the emotions, taking us closer and closer to the fine line between love and hate. As the man prepares to depart, he clearly feels the environment he is leaving is such that he must take their baby with him, too. When he demands “I want the baby”, she refuses, “Are you crazy? You’re not touching this baby”. Her refusal to part with the baby is yet another way she can hurt him as she is hurting. It is difficult to tell if she truly wants the baby for her own, or if it is just a pawn in the game she is playing to get back at him. But the man’s ‘noble’ intentions are quickly eroded by his desire to overcome his wife. Indeed, their struggle over the baby becomes more a battle of wills than concern for the baby’s welfare. “In the near-dark he worked on her fisted fingers with one hand and with the other hand he gripped the screaming baby up under an arm near the shoulder.” So focused on prying the baby away from its mother, the man has seemingly lost sight of his original purpose in removing the child. “She would have it, this baby. /But he would not let go.” Where before there had been love, now there were two adversaries and one helpless victim.
I thought that Popular Mechanics was interesting because part of the story was never told and left up to the imagination. There are no winners when love is lost. Carver knew this. The only way we can be victorious in the game of love is when we become honest and be ourselves and accept both criticism and praise with an open heart and mind.