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In "Chef's House" I really like the set up of the story and what it entailed but I found myself confused a lot when he was using dialogue. I have never read a story with someone writing like this. I had to read certain paragraphs over again to make sure I understood who was saying what. The last line defiantly was a sentence that I think each reader could take differently. I personally think it meant that it would be their last meal in that house and after it was done they would move out. Another part of me thinks that it could mean after this meal she is done with him and is going to go back to her old life with her ex boyfriend she was dating.
I don't see their future going very far. Ever since Wes found out that Chef wanted him to move out, his emotions and tone with Edna had changed. She said "he opened his eyes. But he didn't look at me. He just sat where he was and looked toward the window." She was calling his name when this happened which to me looks like he wasn't paying much attention to her. He also had to pretty much beg her to come live in Chef's house and it took her a long time to make up her decision. She also told her boyfriend that she was living with before that "I have to do it for Wes's sake" which told me as a reader that she was doing it for him and not for herself.
In "Chef's House," the writer never uses quotation marks. This made the story very interesting to read and it forced the readers to read slowly in order to understand the story. Smart. I really enjoyed the language it was in, it seemed like they were living somewhere in the 60's or 70's. The last line of the story sure is a confusing one! I think the dinner they are having tonight and the fact that she says, "we'll clean it up tonight, I thought, and that will be the end of it," I think she is trying to say that tonight they will sit down and have a serious conversation about Wes staying sober and "cleaning it up later." Wes and Edna had spent months together attempting to ignore his alcoholism, and when things get rocky Wes seems to head straight back to his resorting to drinking. I think the couple's future is sort of gray. I believe Edna wants to fix Wes but in order to do that Wes needs to put in some input as well. If Edna truly believes in their relationship, then she will try her hardest to heal Wes.
In "Chefs House" i did not like how the dialogue to me there was to much i said, he said etc. I felt like that took away from the story some what. Also seemed like there was a lot of explaining through out the story. The end of the story wrapped it up very well. With "we'll clean it up tonight and that will be the end of it" clearly states the end of their relationship. Edna went to the house to see if her ex husband has really tried to stop the drinking that has runnied their family. They had a summer romance that was like the old day when every thing was fin. She even put her wedding ring back on. But them losing the house to Fat Linda brought back reality to them and Edna knew that the drinking will continue and that she will not remain happy with him. He even knew that he could no longer be the man she wanted him to be. So their relation ship is over for good.
I think the meaning behind the very last line in the short story, "Chef's House", was that it was completely over. I think that she really had enough and needed to say goodbye. I think the couples future is in bad shape. By many sayings such as, "Im sorry, but i can't talk like someone I'm not". Also the line stating that he opened his eyes but would not look at her. I really feel as if both of them were putting on an act of a, "happily married couple", just because of the house. Once the house was taken away from them Wes just became ignorant with how he was talking to edna. Also Wes' drinking was a large problem and the last line of the story was maybe her finally putting her foot down. I hope so.
I liked this story but it was sometimes very confusing with no quotation marks.
The very last line in the story "Chef's House" by Raymond Carver, is a line that could be determined to have different meanings by different readers. "We'll clean it up tonight, I thought, and that will be the end of it." This line is given after an entire summer of rekindled emotions between the once happily married couple Edna and Wes. Their happy months came to a halt when the owner of the house they are staying in gives them a month to move out. Wes takes this news as his newfound life with Edna over. They both know that what they shared here in Chef's house this sumer would inevitably end once they left, but Edna seemed to be willing to work things out with Wes. However, he wanted nothing to do with her talk. "I'm not somebody else. If I was somebody else, I sure as hell wouldn't be here," Wes states after Edna's attempt to prolong their relationship. I find this line somewhat ironic, being that they were both pretending to be somebody else for their duration of time together in the house. Edna knew this before agreeing to stay with him for the summer in taking note of his sobriety. I interpret this ending line as Edna giving up on Wes. She knew that after they both left the house, whether they tried to keep things together or not, their relationship would be over.
What I got from the very last line was an ending to Wes and Edna's relationship. It seemed to me as if Wes was going to fall off the wagon, again. Edna was going to move back home and continue her relationship with her boyfriend that she left behind. Fat Linda would take over the house now, and to Wes nothing will be the same, even if they got a new place, it wouldn't be the same. Wes said that he didn't have "that kind of supposing left in" him, replying to Edna's attempt at trying to make the situation better. Wes just wasn't buying into it. Bottom line, the couple doesn't look like they will make it after the end of the month.
I think Carver's last line refers to the end of this little vacation that Wes and Edna have been on together, and therefore also refers to the end of hope for their relationship. The vacation represents a moment in time without major worry, where the only work that's being done is Wes' effort to stay sober. Chef's House is a sort of pause button on life, allowing them to get away from the life they used to lead and forgive each other for the mistakes they made when they once were together.
Aside from the last line, there were clues throughout the story that hinted at the hopelessness of their relationship. Chef's House seemed to rekindle the feelings they once felt for each other, however without it they don't seem to know what to do. Wes keeps saying things such as: "I know I'm glad you came up here. I won't forget you did it." This implies a rather cynical relationship based on favors rather than love.
I was also struck by the narrator's lack of emotions. She tells us in very simple language what is happening, what has happened, and what is likely to happen, however she leaves out any sense of opinion or analysis. To me, she came across as emotionally removed from what was going on around her, indicating that there perhaps weren't many feelings left in the relationship.
I read A Small Good Thing a while back and really liked it the first time I read it, so I read it again when you posted it. It's incredibly depressing, obviously, however I think that Carver does a good job at picking out moments that any reader can relate to. An example of this is his description of what it was like to leave the hospital after the death of Scotty. Somehow, without using many words, he managed to describe that surreal feeling of being in the middle of so much life while your own has completely lost meaning. By picking moments like this he is able to arouse immense emotions in the reader.
I think the narrator meant that they will "clean up the night" in the sense that they will enjoy their last night in the house. Then "that will be the end of it" meant that she is assuming that her break from her husband's normal drunken routine will be over, and things will go back to the way they used to be.
As for their future, I think that the couple will return to the way things used to be before they moved into Chef's house. Unfortunately, the husband makes this suggestion evident as soon as he gets up to shut the blinds in the house causing the ocean to "disappear". As soon as he does this action, I feel as though they both silently know what is ahead of them as far as him remaining sober.
What does the narrator mean by the very last line?
Edna plans on killing Fat Linda with Wes.
What do you think the couples' future looks like? Cite specific things in the text that leads you to this conclusion.
They'll have difficulties, but they will stay together; probably off and on. Edna was willing to leave her current relationship and take a risk with Wes; this takes love or stupidity, both of which can work in the relationship's favor.
The last line of Carver's piece seems to mean exactly what it states. The blunt, sparse, and simplistic prose throughout this whole piece show what they mean. I do think that the end of their relationship is approaching because of his failure to admit he was wrong and or apologize. When Edna said "Suppose, just suppose, nothing had ever happened. Suppose this was for the first time." In response to this Wes says "We were born who we are. Don't you see what I'm saying?" His failure to change and/or apoligize shows how the ending in Edna's mind is the end of their tumultuous relationship. Earlier in the story Wes does this again with his failure to handle their having to move. Edna says "We'll get another house." Wes tells her "It wouldn't be the same anyway." Wes shows again here how he isn;t dynamic or willing to try again in a coded very subtle way. The mention of "We'll clean it up tonight" at the end of the story also implies a separation or breakage of the relationship.
In "Chef's House" I thought that the last line "we'll clean it up tonight, and that will be the end of it" meant that she was done with Wes forever. At the beginning of the story it seemed like Edna had moved on from her failed marriage, but then she went back to Wes to give it another shot. I think that their relationship is over when Edna starts to see that Wes hasn't changed and that he is not going to stay sober. I think the last line means that she will help him clean up and get sober and then she is done with the relationship.
It would seem that the husband decided that going back and regressing to his alcoholic past was something inevitable. The feeling of finality to the last had me convinced that he had given up on everything, even on Edna, even after she sacrificed all that she did to move up there with him. I think as soon as the characters have to leave that house it's never going to be the same between them, simply finished.
The conversation language the writer uses in the story is not what I am used to. I am used to dialogue in a dialogue format, not as a continuation of a paragraph like the author does. But I thought it was precise and to the point, no cluttering or using complicated language.
I liked "Chef's House" because of how earthy it was, if that makes sense, but I also don't think I could handle quotation-less dialogue forever. I think the last line was a clear indication that what was being "cleaned up" was the end of their relationship. It could have meant that they would clean up the current hiccup in their relationship and move on from it to a happy ending, but it certainly didn't feel like that. It sounded to me as if Wes was, even sober, still the unstable fool that Edna had left before. I think there's certain things pointing towards this conclusion especially when Wes says, "I don't have that kind of supposing left in me. We were born who we are. Don't you see what I'm saying?" Also when he says, in relation to his kids loving him, "Maybe, but it won't matter then." That sounds to me as if he would learn this later in life when he was far removed from Edna and the kids and so their love wouldn't really affect his life that much, whereas if he and Edna had started a life together again he would kind of need his kids to love him or else family events would be pretty awkward. I also think there is evidence of their time ending when Edna says they'll find another house and Wes says, "Not like this one. It wouldn't be the same, anyway." All in all I think the last line points to Edna maybe helping Wes stay on the path of sobriety but then moving on from him.
The last line was a metaphor for her time together with her pessimistic husband. Their time at the house by the beach was a fun, relazing, enjoyable, and loving time for them, but it was cut short. Like everything else, their brief romance came to an end. They had to pack up their bags and go back to the way things were – Their lives seperated by lost love.
I focused on the second question while reading the entire story. At first it was indistinguishable that Edna and Wes were even a couple. Then it became evident that they were a married couple whom had fallen out of love since she "hadn't worn [her] ring in two years". My hope for this couple finding love the used to have grew when while describing her summer days she said Wes would hold her in his arms and asks if she was still "his girl" at night. However, my hopes were crushed towards the end of the story when he said "…I'm glad we had us this time together". Once the realization hit that they had to move out of their summer home, Wes completely gave up on them as shown by his usage of the past tense. As a couple, it doesn't look like they have a future.
I think the last line in the story had two meanings. I thought the first one meant that it was the last of the fish and they were going to finish it for dinner. And I thought the second meaning was about their relationship. I think I means that they're going to clean up their relationship and it will be the end of the past so they can start over. I think the couple's future will be rocky. They're going to try and make it work but ultimately it's going to fail. It said "Wes had this look about him. I knew that look." I think that line means it's his "I want to drink" look and he's about to start again which is going to ruin it. At the line "I'm glad we had this time together" it made it clear that what they reachieved with each other was just a fling.
I thought the dialogue in "Chef's House" wasn't the easiest to read with out the quotation marks, but it still made the dialogue interesting. I thought the last line meant that it was their last meal together. They had a perfect summer and now things were falling apart and so they wouldn't last either. He acts irritable after he finds out fat linda is moving in and like he is not willing to try anymore.
I think the last line means that their lovely summer together is over. They will have to move away from this sanctuary and Wes will start drinking again, and they both know it. I bet they separate again and everything goes back to the way it used to be for them before the summer. – "Say none of the other had ever happened." "Then I suppose we'd have to be somebody else if that was the case. Somebody we're not." – I think Wes felt like he could manage his alcohol and his life better at Chef's house, and he won't be able to do it in the real world with her. He's saying that the same things would happen because they would be the same people and create the same circumstances and end up the same way.
This story I liked very much. The beginning moved a little fast but once you get into the story its really good. The dialogue was clear and kept your mind thinking. The last line is talking about Wes' alcohol problem and how it is probably unstable now that they are losing the house. It was, i thought to be a kind thought that passed through her head that although she was giving up, hope was just too far gone after the move. This line made you come to the conclusion that the couple would go back to their own lives and that it was like a short vacation. I don't think anything will happen later between them but I could see them seeing each other briefly at times as friends or something. He will probably move back to his old house and keep drinking.
This part definitely allowed us to see Wes as an alcoholic with a bad past that he is trying to drink away. Maybe there is deeper things we don't and wont know about.