 "where i'm calling from" is a short story by american author raymond carver. the story focuses on the effects of alcohol. throughout this story carver experiments with the use of quotation and meditates on the healing factors of storytelling. this story also lends its title to a collection of thirty-seven short stories compiled by carver where i'm calling from: new and selected stories. ==plot synopsis== the main character, an unnamed man, has been dropped off at frank martinâs alcohol rehabilitation center by his girlfriend, not to be confused with his wife. after arriving he encounters j.p. who starts telling him his story. j.p. is a drunken chimney sweep whose father-in-law has recently dropped him off at frank martinâs as well. he tells the story of how he met his wife, roxy, one afternoon at his friendâs house. she was a chimney sweep that asked to kiss j.p.âs friend when she was done cleaning his chimney when j.p. asked for a kiss as well. as j.p. continues his story it becomes about how alcohol has ruined his marriage to his wife. the story ends with the main character contemplating calling his wife or calling his girlfriend. the title comes from the last few lines where he says:i won't raise my voice. not even if she starts something. she'll ask me where i'm calling from, and i'll have to tell her. i won't say anything about new year's resolutions. thereâs no way to make a joke out of this. after i talk to her, iâll call my girlfriend. maybe iâll call her first. iâll just have to hope i donât get her kid on the line. âhello, sugar,â iâll say when she answers. âitâs me." ==use of alcohol== alcohol and the importance of storytelling both play major roles in this story. j.p.âs story as well as many other alcoholic stories is in a tripartite form. it begins with his great life before the drink, the way the drink affected his marriage, and now with his stay at frank martinâs it will include his life after the drink. frank martinâs rehabilitation center literally becomes the means of the characters' sobriety, and it seems that without it they would not be able to dry out. carver uses jack london as a metaphor in this story as well. jack london used to live on the other side of the valley in which frank martinâs is located. this makes the men realize that since the drink affected someone as talented and strong as london, they cannot handle it either. he also speaks of the half dog and half wolf creature in the call of the wild. just like this animal, the drink makes you half domestic and half wild. towards the end of the story jack london is referred to again in regards to his story "to build a fire." this is a metaphor for the main character and for j.p. drying out. building a fire literally gives hope and is a symbol for life, and whether the man will call his wife or his girlfriend is uncertai
Ambassador_Book_Award_winning_works American_short_stories Literature_about_alcohol_abuse Short_stories_by_Raymond_Carver