Carver, "A Small, Good Thing"

Discussion questions: Carver (1983)

1. Is this a story about coping with a child's death? About sympathizing with others' sufferings? About how little we know about other people's lives? About something else?

2. What passages in Carver's short story do you like best or find most powerful? Why?

3. This is a more traditional short story than Moore's, but both are effective portrayals of emotional suffering. If you could pick only one to assign to a class of medical or nursing students, which would you choose? Why?