In Carver’s minimalist writing, he rarely uses metaphor or figurative language. However, at the end of “Preservation,” Sandy and her husband stand in unexplained puddles of water. What do you think the sudden appearance of this water might symbolize? What is one other potential symbol in any of the stories and how does it function?

One of the common stylistic choices in the stories is that the author often provides incomplete information about the characters and their narratives. If you could ask the author one question about missing details in any of the stories, what would you ask? Given your own creative control over the stories, how would you answer that question?

Although the stories in the collection are not interconnected in terms of character or storylines, there are several themes that unify the different narratives. What is one theme that you think is present in all (or nearly all) of the stories? Choose two stories and explain how the theme manifests differently or similarly in both.