The result is even more chilling than if he merely described what happened–the dismemberment or severe injury of a baby.
With so much left unsaid, we, as the readers, have to construct the image in our heads, and in a sense, have to hauntingly perform the act ourselves.
The fate of the baby figuratively reflects the man and woman tearing their relationship asunder. It may also allude to King Solomon solving a dispute over a child by offering to cleave the infant in half–a bit of brinksmanship that doesn’t pay off for either the man and the woman in Carver’s story.