Perspective

I think an interesting creative decision Carver chooses to make has to do with perspective, especially in the stories "Gazebo" and "So Much Water So Close to Home." In "Gazebo," he chooses to tell the story from the perspective of the husband and in "So Much Water..." he tells the story from the perspective of the wife. Why do you think he chooses these perspectives? I thought about it a lot this week and I really don't have an insightful statement to make either way. The wife's perspective is so personal and jarring, I feel like I am inside her skin when I read it and it's disturbing. The husband's perspective is less reflective and more matter-of-fact; instead of sympathy I rather feel as though I'm being bludgeoned by the story. I feel empathy for the characters and am frustrated by their obstinancy to the feelings of their partner in both cases (the husband's decision to cheat and make no effort to re-establish trust, the wife's decision to shut her husband out because of his insensitiviy to the dead girl). I was hoping that one of us might shed some light on these characters and the way they tell their stories...