Popular Mechanics

Carver's short story entitled Popular Mechanics is heart-wrenching from beginning to end.  At the beginning, the reader feels sympathy for the mother, who is being left by the father.  Later, however, all sympathy for the parents vanishes and is felt solely for the infant in the story.  Carver did a wonderful job with setting the tone and mood for his story right from the start.  "Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark.  But it was getting dark on the inside too" (Carver, 1).  It can immediately be ascertained that a very tense, dark, and depressing series of events is about to take place within the home.  In the end, it is implied that the parents killed their child in the physical struggle for possession of him.  This act shows how selfish the mother and father are.  They're actions were driven by greedy desires.  They weren't concerned with what was best for the baby, but what they wanted.  They killed their child while fighting over whose possession he was.