Carver is concerned with the ways in which human beings communicate or fail to communicate with each other and how that affects people's lives. Dicuss how this concern is depicted in "A Small, Good Thing."

Raymond Carver's 1983 short story is freighted with pathos, and both communication and the lack of communication affect characters in "A Small, Good Thing."
The lack of communication between Ann and the baker opens the story.  She finds him cold and unpleasant and uninterested in the details of her son Scotty's birthday.  In completing the cake order, "There were no pleasantries between them, just the minimum exchange of words, the necessary information."  
When Scotty is hit by the car, "the man in the driver's seat looked back over his shoulder. He (the boy) looked dazed, but okay. The driver put the car into gear and drove away."  Because the driver didn't speak to Scotty--or police or EMTs--and instead left the scene, it is arguable that his silence cost Scotty his life. After Scotty's death, the doctors tell his parents that "maybe if it could have been detected somehow and surgery undertaken immediately, they could have saved him"--or perhaps not.  But because there was no communication from the driver, it is impossible to know if the tragic outcome could have been different.
The doctor's lack of meaningful communication with Howard and Ann about Scotty's condition early in his treatment left them with incomplete information and meaningless platitudes like "just as soon as he wakes up he'll be over the hill." The doctor is slow to communicate his concerns to his colleagues and perhaps waits too long to consult with a neurologist.  
Howard inadvertently worsens Ann's negative feelings toward the baker and deepens her anguish when he fails to mention that in the first phone call, the baker did say "There's a cake here that wasn't picked up."  Because Howard doesn't communicate this detail to Ann, her fury at the baker reaches a point where she verbally attacks him. The moment nearly turns physical when she and Howard descend on the bakery to confront the man they believe has been cruelly tormenting them.
Ultimately, when the baker, Ann, and Howard are able to speak at length and the gaps in their communication are filled, their shared humanity resolves the story.  The baker expresses both empathy ("he told them what it was like to be childless all these years") and sympathy and offers comfort with cinnamon rolls, bread, and coffee.  Carver's message about the beneficial effect communication can have on interpersonal conflict is found in the story's final line: "They talked on into the early morning, the high, pale cast of light in the windows, and they did not think of leaving."