"In this manner, the issue was decided."
~ Raymond Carver, Popular Mechanics
Style is the focus of Popular Mechanics, so I guess we will start there. The biggest thing that I see is the ending. So the couple is fighting over the baby, and it actually gets physical, so the author describes the two as leaning back while both holding on to the baby. The story ends with the sentence, "in this manner, the issue was decided." So the major stylistic thing is the possibilities of the open ending.
I think that the most reasonable ending is that the baby was injured - from prior events, that seems most likely. But then there are all the possibilities of who gets the baby. That was the question throughout the story. The last sentence says that the matter was decided, but it doesn't actually tell what that resolution was.... so we are left hanging. Did one parent get custody? Did neither parent get the baby (were the injuries so bad that the baby was taken away or suffered death)? Did the couple get back together? WHO KNOWS? I wish this story was as straightforward as its biblical counterpart, the story of Solomon. My best guess is that, because neither parent let go, neither parent loved the baby enough to let it live, so neither parent got the baby. That's how I see it, especially if we are going off the Solomon story.
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