Many writers suffer from the real problems of the world. Such as depression, alcoholism, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. They often show their real life problems in their stories. Raymond Carver is an excellent example of a writer suffering from alcoholism, which influenced most of his short stories. According to the biographical school, Carver's childhood and several relationships were also the result of his short stories' themes of disappointment and loss. Raymond Carver was born May 25, 1938, in Clatskanie, Oregon, a lumber mill town on the Columbia River. His father, Clevie Raymond Carver, worked in the sawmill as a shaper. Raymond worked for the mill at the age he became old enough to work. His father was a vicious alcoholic; ultimately foreshadowing Raymond's drinking problem. Carver's mother, Ella Casey Carver, was employed to supplement the family's income by working as a waitress and retail jobs. His working-class family faced poverty among other families in his neighborhood. Carver's father liked to tell and read stories to him. Carver's father introduced him to stories about his heritage and similarly read stories to him. When Carver was able to choose his own books or magazines to read, Carver read magazines such as "Sports Afield", "Argosy" and "Outdoor life" and some of his most beloved authors included Thomas B. Costain and Edgar Rice Boroughs. Reading these scholars motivated him to start writing his stories at an early age. At the age of eighteen Carver married his pregnant girlfriend Maryann Burk and by the age of twenty had two children. In 1958 Carver attended Chico State College. He then graduated from Humboldt State College in 1963. Trying to get an education and providing…half of a paper…something. "Ironically, however, Robert is physically blind, it is the narrator who is the one who is bling in the world. The narrator is a troubled individual; from discussion with his wife, it is discovered that he has no companions, as in Carver's life, the the narrator's use of alcohol is destroying his marriage with his wife; rather, he discusses personal problems and converses with Robert and not with his husband biased opinions. He is envious of the relationship between Robert and his wife, as if "she told him everything" or "so it seemed" about their marriage. The narrator tries to hide behind his hopeless life by drinking almost identical to addiction; of Carver from alcohol when he was bankrupt and could not support his family with his minimum wage job.