28 pages • 56 minutes read
A Small Good Thing
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Character Analysis
Ann Weiss
Thirty-three-year-old Ann Weiss is the first character that Carver introduces, as she orders a birthday cake for her son, Scotty. An upper middle-class mother, she has the time and money to plan a party for her son and bridles at the baker’s lack of deference to her. However, the story otherwise reveals little of what excites her, what her passions might be, and whether she has hopes or dreams beyond Scotty’s recovery.
Ann senses that her son is in worse condition than the doctor is letting on. However, she remains deferential to the men in the room—her husband and Dr. Francis. The story strikingly reveals something about her inner life after she encounters the Black family awaiting news of their son, Franklin. Learning of their predicament, “[s]he had an urge to talk more with these people who were in the same kind of waiting she was in. She was afraid, and they were afraid. They had that in common […] Yet she didn’t know how to begin” (391). Here, Ann seems stilted and perhaps trapped by social conventions, as class and race create a barrier between her and communication. It’s noteworthy, though, that the image of the younger Black woman in the waiting room, perhaps Franklin’s sister, haunts Ann. Later, Ann wants to tell her, “Don’t have children [...] For God’s sake, don’t” (393), signaling her distress and her desire to reach out to another woman.
However, Ann’s strong reaction to Scotty’s death belies her reserved nature, as is evident in the anger she releases when answering calls at the house, using swear words like “evil bastard” and wishing she could kill the person who hit her son. Although Ann changes over the course of the story, Carver leaves ambiguity around whether her son’s death provokes a longer-lasting catharsis in her.
Howard Weiss
Howard is a somewhat stoic and solid husband. He built a predictable life, garnered a good education, became a successful businessperson, and fathered a son. However, encountering tragedy for the first time rocks him. Although he’s less inclined than his wife to question Dr. Francis’s diagnoses, Howard worries about Scotty and, after initially returning home, rushes back to his son’s bedside. Still, his ability to communicate what he’s feeling isn’t distinctly better than Ann’s:
[Howard] wanted to say something else and reassure her, but he was afraid, too. He took her hand and put it in his lap, and this made him feel better […] From time to time, he squeezed her hand. Finally, she took her hand away (384).
Howard’s way of coping here is somehow characteristically masculine—tugging at Ann for comfort without offering much in return. Still, he’s emotional: He’s frightened at the news that the doctors plan to operate on Scotty, cries after Scotty’s death, and is horrified when Dr. Francis says that he’ll have to perform an autopsy: “‘I don’t understand, doctor. I can’t, I can’t. I just can’t’” (398). Later, Carver paints a poignant image of Howard at home, hugging his son’s bicycle to him as he makes a futile attempt to clear up Scotty’s belongings.
Scotty’s death seems to affect Howard’s sense of himself and even his masculinity. After his initial hubristic support of Dr. Francis, he seems chastened in the aftermath of his son’s death—and the angry Ann takes charge, ordering him to drive them to the bakery, stepping through the back door there ahead of him, and taking the lead in remonstrating with the baker. The extent of Howard’s change during the story is a shrinking of his ego in the face of tragedy.
Dr. Francis
While Dr. Francis may boast an upbeat bedside manner, his diagnostic faculties leave something to be desired. He tells the worried parents that Scotty is suffering from a concussion and shock and that he should wake up soon from his deep sleep. Despite Ann’s obvious concern, he makes light of Scotty’s predicament: “‘Oh, he’ll have himself a dilly of headache when he does [wake up], you can count on that. But all of the signs are fine’” (387). The narrative conveys a sense that he doesn’t quite take Ann seriously; he even calls her “little mother.” Although he’s not malicious, he can’t save Scotty or correctly diagnose—despite every indication—that the boy’s slipping into a coma.
After Scotty’s death, he’s apologetic and comforting yet also somewhat businesslike as he escorts the Weisses from the hospital. To what extent Scotty’s case will change Dr. Francis’s future methods (or self-belief) is unclear.
The Baker
The baker is a gruff older man. He has little time for pleasantries when Ann orders Scotty’s cake. Like Ann and Howard, he has poor communication skills. In his first phone call to the Weiss house, however, he’s direct in announcing to the shaken Howard that a cake awaits pickup. Only later does communication breakdown occur: The baker’s cryptic or wordless calls only worsen the conflict with the Weisses. When they arrive unannounced at his bakery in the middle of the night, he even reaches for a rolling pin, sensing that things might come to blows.
However, the baker demonstrates the most change over the course of the story. When Ann reveals what happened to Scotty, the baker immediately offers warm rolls and coffee to help comfort her and her husband, apologizing profusely for his behavior: “‘You got to understand what it comes down to is I don’t know how to act anymore, it would seem” (404). The baker reveals his loneliness, his isolation from the world. Far from being the evil man Ann wanted to kill, he elicits pathos as he attempts to redeem himself through kindness toward the grief-stricken parents.
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By Raymond Carver
