Why Don't You Dance? Introduction

We'd like to start with a warning: Raymond Carver's "Why Don't You Dance?" ends with the main characters totally befuddled as to what the heck just happened, so as a reader, you might be in for some confusion as well. Not to worry, though—we're here to help you through.

Basically, not a whole lot happens in the story. An older guy is selling all his stuff and has arranged it out on the lawn, exactly as it was arranged inside his house. A young couple comes by to purchase some of it, and while negotiating prices, they and the older guy end up getting hammered. And then dancing. And it gets weird.

The key to this story is definitely reading (and re-reading) between the lines because there's actually a lot of stuff (like emotions, sexy feelings, and more goodness) churning beneath the surface. The guy selling the furniture appears to have lost his wife (we don't know how), and he seems kind of creepily drawn to the younger couple, particularly the girl. And they're kind of drawn to him—but also kind of repulsed.

This story is an interesting study of relationships at two very different stages, so it seems appropriate that it is the first story in Carver's 1981 collection entitled What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Of course we're never quite sure what we're learning about love here… but that's part of the fun, right?

 

What is Why Don't You Dance? About and Why Should I Care?

Ever deal with someone and find you just have no idea what was running through his or her head when they said or did something? That's pretty much the situation in "Why Don't You Dance." There's clearly a rich backstory for both the young couple and the older man, but they don't share it with each other—or with us.

Is it frustrating? Sure, but it's also realistic. Think about it: There are a thousand mysteries in our every day interactions that we never get to solve. What in the world happened to that barista to make him that unpleasant? Why is the bus driver so inexplicably cheerful these days? (Or not.) There's a whole world of motivations and emotions driving other people that we never get to see, and this story makes us stare at a couple of examples of that reality.

But what's the point of doing that? That's up to interpretation. You might argue that there's something to be said for acknowledging how much we don't know about other people, that the book encourages readers to be more humble or sensitive or empathetic or whatever when dealing with others. But there's really no right answer to this one, so you're just going to have to read the story to come up with your own.