Little Things - Raymond Carver

When I got to the end of this story, I was just shocked. As a child of divorced parents, I have felt the strain of being fought over, parents can pull you back and forth until there is nothing left. I thought this was an extremely accurate representation of how bad relationships can end and how the kids get caught in the middle.

I liked the imagery at the beginning. When Carver described the snow melting into dirty water, I could see it happening. I also thought that the imagery could be describing what was going on in the house as well. The snow (the beginning of the relationship) at first pure, white, and beautiful has melted into this dirty slush (the fighting/angry ending of the relationship) that no one wants.

Rhinoceros vs. Berenger

There are times when everyone has been a rhinoceros, myself included. Peer pressure can be a mighty thing and it is hard to withstand. While I have had many opportunities to fall into the rhinoceros category, overall I have found myself to be more of a Berenger.

There have been many times that I have said no to whatever my friends were offering. I am a singer. I am not going to ruin my lungs by smoking anything. Alcohol in high school was a HUGE problem, but I always said no. Nowadays that isn't as much of an issue. I am of legal age to drink and I know when to stop. I don't continue to drink even though my friends try to get me to "have more fun."

These are just small things on the scale of life, but if I have enough sense to stand up against the small things, the bigger things in life hopefully won't be much harder.