The story focuses on the plight of becoming alienated, both from oneself and from one’s family, a common experience among people with addictions. A sense of alienation is present from the first paragraph, when the narrator says, “J.P.’s real name is Joe Penny, but he says I should call him J.P.” (208). While he is at Frank Martin’s, J.P. desires to distance himself from his identity as represented by his full name. Carver emphasizes this distance when Roxy calls J.P. “Joe” (which indicates he is not referred to by his initials back at home) and when J.P. says, “Jack London. What a name! I wish I had me a name like that. Instead of the name I got” (215). In these instances, a name stands in for a person’s identity, and the characters’ shame regarding their addiction causes them to go through a distinctive self-alienation.

Names and naming hold further thematic significance. Carver correlates the revelation of names with success, stability, and perhaps even freedom from addiction. The narrator’s name is even more shrouded than J.P.’s initials; his wife and girlfriend, whose lives are also impacted by the narrator’s turbulence, are similarly unnamed.