"Popular Mechanics" by: Raymond Carver

When reading this story, I first concentrated on the parents literal fight over the baby. When looking more deeply, I saw that it was really about the destruction divorce has on the children in a family. This is the conflict of the story. Like the parents in the story are ripping the child apart and pulling the child back and forth, a divorce can affect a child like this emotionally as well. Custody battles and fights over a child's love can emotionally rip a child apart. I believe that this is essentially what this story is about. This story also satires the selfishness of parents who fight over their children. When the parents are saying "Don't... You're hurting the baby." and "I'm not hurting the baby the author shows the immaturity and selfishness of the parents. They are looking for what they want over the well-being and happiness of their own child. They would rather hurt their child rather than compromise with each other. The conflict is resolved by showing that eventually, the fighting will tear the family apart.