“Less is More”: Simpleness and Richness in “Why Don’t You Dance”

In 1981, the publication of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, a famous collection of short stories by Raymond Carver, saddled him with the term “Minimalist”. Based on former academic achievements on Carver's minimalist writing, this research analyzed the minimalistic techniques in “Why Don't You Dance” in order, namely omitted narration, line drawing sketch and repetitive narration and decoded their textual effects and author’s intention. Under minimalistic and detached narration of the story, Carver reveals implicitly the situations of lower working-class lives, expressing deep empathy for those who lost in alcohol, vulgar culture and indifferent humanity.