Statement of Intention/Disclaimer/Author’s Notes On Deeper Water:

The story Deeper Water is drawn from and influenced by several Raymond Carver short stories taken from the collection Please Will You Be Quiet, Please. There is also reference to the last verse of the song Deeper Water, written and composed by Paul Kelly and originally released on the album of the same name in 1995. This influence is visible mainly in the title and in the original rough sketch-plot that this version elaborates on. However, the greater part of this work owes its existence to the style and narrative ideas used in the short story Please Will You Be Quiet, Please, along with Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes and (to a lesser extent) Jerry and Molly and Sam.

In the original Please Will You Be Quiet, Please, the protagonist (Ralph Wyman) has always believed that his relationship with his wife was fairly healthy before being forced to realize otherwise by circumstances that are effectively out of his control. In fact, Carver deliberately mentions that Wyman believed he and his wife ‘understood each other perfectly’. This is a quiet little addition that highlights the dangers of assumption and lack of communication in relationships. Carver brings such things up fairly often in his work; in many of his short stories the main characters can hold a seemingly normal conversation which, on closer inspection, actually says very little – the entirety of stories like Signals can be read as a case in point. In the particular case of Ralph Wyman, his entire marriage is conducted on the basis of this assumption and the pleasantly domestic world he has come to expect is nearly destroyed by the news of an affair. The central character in Deeper Water – a man named Jim – initiallyhas a similar character construction to Wyman. He is serious, conscientious and would dearly love to do what is best for his family. Like Wyman, Jim has always believed that his relationships were healthy, and he is careful that no one has to go without…and, also much like Wyman, he becomes rather crushed and destructive once the ‘dream’ begins to crumble.

Jim’s world also bears a resemblance to that of Al from Jerry and Molly and Sam. Like Al, he looks for something to blame for the situation he finds himself in, and the gradual collapse of the relationship with his wife and child suggests exactly where he lays the blame. For lack of a better target Al blames the dog, while Jim struggles not to hit his young daughter – both of whom are in no position to change anything about the situation, or even to fully comprehend it. Though Al, Carver explores the notion of the so-called ‘American dream’ – the fully paid house, the good car, the happy family and the imaginary white picket fence. As often happens in Carver’s work, this dream is not fulfilled – there is alcoholism or violence, there are troubles with money, there is unemployment, there is an affair…and the breakdown of the American dream provides a story. Jim finds himself in a similar situation with his wife’s illness – before, he was paying off the house, working a decent job, doing ordinary things. As soon as his wife becomes ill, he has to focus his attention on other parts of his life and so lashes out in frustration, unable to think of anything else to do or anyone who might help him.

Perhaps the most interesting component of this story is focussed on the rather delicate relationship between Jim and Ellie – drawn from the father-son dynamic seen in Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes. Interestingly, whilst Carver continued the isolation in that particular story, when compared to the others in the collection it is surprisingly cheerful. Evan Hamilton has a fairly cheerful and content relationship with his wife, and plainly cares a great deal for his son despite knowing little of his daily activities. He does, after all, believe what his son tells him, and defends it to the father of another boy. Jim and Ellie have a similar relationship to Evan and Roger – in both cases, there is a sort of alienation, which stops far short of being anything like hate. In Jim’s case, the relationship is much simpler to account for Ellie’s age, but the distance remains and is not fully understood. Neither Evan nor Jim have any idea of how to relate to their respective offspring, and when forced into a situation where they have no choice they muddle through as best they can, eventually deciding on a path that (unusually for Carver in this collection) does not leave them more isolated and alone than they were before.

In all cases, Carver shows his audience what is happening rather than telling them about it. He uses simple and direct language, relatively basic dialogue and decidedly flawed and ordinary characters to tell stories that only happen to people who do not always succeed. This story is attempting to achieve a similar goal.