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¶ … Dance," the short story by Raymond Carver, the girl at the end of the story discovers the pain of life and the inability to communicate it as a result of the encounter with the drunken man. This short story is eloquent in the words it does not present, such as "divorce," "bankruptcy," and even "alcoholic." That is what the young girl learns from the drunken man, she learns there are many words that go unsaid in our society, and that how things look on the outside might not have anything at all to do with reality.

From the moment the story starts, it is clear there is something terribly wrong with the man and the situation. He arranges all his furniture in his front yard, just as it was in the house, and he even hooks up the electricity. He is making a statement about his life, that it is over in this house, and he is making a statement that something is terribly wrong, as well. It is clear that he has to leave the house for some reason, and that he is giving up all his possessions in a kind of despair or depression.

It is clear that something has traumatized or desensitized the man. Carver writes, "The man gazed at the television. He finished his drink and started another. He reached to turn on the floor lamp. It was then that his cigarette dropped from his fingers and fell between the cushions" (Carver). It is like he is watching life go by, but not participating in it, and so, it is clear there is something wrong, and it is something major.

The girl calls the man "desperate" twice in the story because he is giving up everything that represents his life up to this point, and because that is the only word she can think of to describe what he is doing. To her, you have to be completely desperate to give up everything you own and have worked for, while it is clear that the man no longer cares about any of it. He is selling off his life, in effect, and that is a desperate and terrible act to the girl. She is just beginning her life with the young boy. They are furnishing an apartment and making a life together, while the man's is clearly coming to an end. The symbolism is clear here, and it is troubling and terrible to the girl.

Finally, the girl and the boy have totally different reactions to the man and his situation. The girl feels sorry for him, and realizes she is witnessing something important, although she cannot find the words to express what that is. She dances with him, and feels an emotional connection with him, while the boy just gets drunk. He writes the check to buy the furniture, and has no other emotions about what is happening, it is not real, or it is not important to him. In that reaction, he could be very much like the drunken man as he grows older, and the girl may be witnessing her own future, which is even more frightening to her. The boy is kind of clueless about the situation, which is why he does not try to communicate about it later. He just accepts it and moves on. However, it changes the girl and her outlook, and that is why she feels the need to talk about it, even if she cannot find the right words to say exactly how she feels.