ENLG 1102

J. Kesler

Research Summary

    Research summaries should be at least one page and include a paragraph summarizing the material and another paragraph that describes your impressions of the material.  For example, were you persuaded by the argument?  What portion(s) of the resource do you agree with, and what portion(s) of the resource do you disagree with?

Example: 

“Women’s Voices in Stories by Raymond Carver”

            In the article “Women’s Voices by Raymond Carver,” the author Marshall Bruce Gentry explains how Carver attempts to write in a woman’s voice. Gentry argues that most authors “male and female… tend to have strongly empathetic feelings toward the opposite sex,” allowing them to portray their “fears and faults” into the characters (86).  During Gentry’s interview with Carver, Carver admits that he felt his writing of a woman’s voice would be restricted. Carver then implies after accomplishing the cross-gender narration that he attributes his success to the fact that he is able understand women. Throughout the article Gentry relays numerous examples of Carver’s cross-gender narrations. However, Gentry points out that despite Carvers success he fails to truly identify with women because “his fiction regularly shortchanges women by making their minds seem less complex than men’s minds”(88). Carver’s female characters lack depth because of his inability to truly understand women. In attempting to portray women’s strengths Carver continues to model them after the male figure:   “[the female character] doesn’t achieve a depth of mind comparable to that of men” (89). Gentry explains that although Carver must have awareness of the “problems” within his writings of women’s voices, he chooses not to correct them (93).

            Gentry’s argument is persuasive because he provides plenty of evidence to support his case.  Gentry is able to give examples of Carver’s writings in which Carver fails to portray the women fairly and even goes so far as to depict women as nothing more than stereo-types.  I agree with Gentry that Carver’s writings are simplistic when he attempts to illustrates women’s emotions.  I also agree with Gentry’s view that Carver does not truly place women in a position of power nor does he show their strength.  My only disagreement with Gentry is his belief that Carver is in the slightest way aware of his failures in depicting women.  Carver is not only unaware of this flaw; he would most certainly disagree with Gentry’s position.  As Carver states during his interview, “I feel I know something about women, and I felt I could be deeply sympathetic, and involved, in taking a woman’s point of view” (35).

            As a woman I found Carver’s writing to be biased against women.  Although Carver attempts to portray the strength in the female characters, they are still dependent on the male figures to help fulfill their lives.  I chose to use the journal article, “Women’s Voices by Raymond Carver” because Gentry does a wonderful job providing evidence to support my thesis.  It is easy to claim that Carver fails to portray a woman’s character because he is a male.  However, there are many male authors who successfully portray women within their writing.  Gentry supports my opinion that women are not weak, simple minded creatures that need men in their lives to be fulfilled.  Gentry explains how Carver’s narrow mindedness of women comes across in his collection of writings.  Certainly it is possible for author’s male or female to portray the opposite sex without resorting to the everyday stereo-types described throughout Carver’s many stories.  It is unfortunate that not more readers have had the advantage to read Gentry’s article showing Carver’s short coming when it comes to women’s voices in his writing.