Ladies and Clarence,
I thought I should post our first blog to get the ball rolling and explain what I would like us to all get out of it.
This is intended to be an organic resource that we continually build as a class, serving as a basis for revision, research, wider reading etc. However, I will not be able to manage it alone. Each lesson I will ask a member of the class to be our note-maker (this will rotate). Throughout the lesson they will need to minute and jot down everything we discuss/explore/learn like a Cambridge finalist on speed. They will then post a summary of our key learning points on to the blog for the other members of the class to read. This will be a thorough and comprehensive review of the lesson that will enable your classmates to keep up to date, even if they weren't there. In addition to this, you will also need to post another link that has something to do with the content of the lesson to widen our perspective on the subject. For example, for 'In Our Time', we might refer to cubism in the lesson and in your lesson review you could add a link to a cubist painting you like! Or it could be a little more academic - perhaps a review/link/extract from another closely related piece of literature.
Hope this makes sense!
Mr Douglas
I was a bit confused at first, but I'm always confused at the beginning of a book. I found it quite unnerving when it said, "The worst, he said, were the women with dead babies". It was shocking to have read that as it seemed totally random.
ReplyDeleteI quite like the way it's written as it's not too wordy, so it's easy to read and the use of shorter sentences makes the writing feel personal; like I'm a part of the story.
I found this extract quite interesing but at the same time, it was quite distturbing. especially the part where the women kept their 'babies dead for six days' which createdsome really horrific and vivid imagery. When i read it, there was something quite depressing about the way it is all about death. i found it quite strange how the mules having their 'forelegs broken' was referred to as being a 'pleasent business'. this made me wonder whether the person who was telling this story had seen alot more violence and inhumanity than this to think of it as relatively tame towards these animals.
ReplyDeleteConfuzzled :S but at the same time it seems that the narrator is just as confused as we are: 'the strange thing was...' and 'i do not know why...'
ReplyDeleteReading the extract is like reading a series of really baffling memories... but Hemingway is pretty smart in that, not only what he's writing about is confusing but he completely leaves out names (apart from the dude called Kemal) and refers to characters as 'he,' 'I,' 'we,' 'the man,' 'the Turk.' Idk but words like 'officer,' 'ordered,' 'evacuated' and 'gunners' can be associated with war: maybe the whole text is confusing to reflect how disturbing and confusing war is
Veeery Confusing!! Its good to see I'm not the only one.. It's quite evident that the book is about war and I found it somewhat disturbing. I agree with Jamila about the vague introduction of the characters, at times I couldn't understand who he was talking about or what he was talking about e.g when he talks about his 'kitchen' ?? When the narrator mentions the part about it being a 'pleasant business' I could sense some kind of irony/mockery as I found the act of torture towards the animals quite cruel.To sum it up, the context of the extract is very pessimistic but maybe this is the truth of war and hemmingway wanted to reflect this, and as they say the truth hurts.
ReplyDeleteI can see elements of the 'fishing, fighting and fucking' that we discussed in class; it's set on a Pier, there's conflict between a gunner's mate and a Turkish officer, and I inferred certain innuendos, for example 'We used to turn the searchlight on them to quiet them. That always did the trick. We'd run the searchlight up and down over them two or three times and they stopped it.'
ReplyDeleteI'm now beginning to understand how Hemingway gives out 1/8 of the information and leaves 7/8 to the readers interpretation. He writes in a very simplistic manner, getting the information across in concise form with short sentences 'Wouldn't give them up. Nothing you could do about it.' 'He felt topping about it. Great friends we were.' Without using any descriptive language, he paints a picture for the reader through the structure of his wording 'harbor... pier... Turkish officer... Gunner's mate... women with dead babies'. He also uses very simple language which allows the reader to absorb information easily.
I'm confused about the 'women with dead babies'. I appreciate the disturbing but also loving image (they can't let their babies go). I think it could be to do with a shipwreck on which babies died and their mothers can't let them go, but I'm not sure.
A confusing chapter but I think this is because Hemingway has used In Media Ras so the setting is unclear. I think his writing style is understated which allows the reader to dive into the story.
ReplyDeleteLESSON REVIEW
ReplyDelete‘In our time’ published in 1925
We learnt that Hemingway writes about the three Fs – (F)ishing, (F)ighting and (F)ucking.
The cover of the book shows a boy it looks as if he is on a journey as he is carrying a bag. He talks about how he wants his readers to experience the book through writing about his personal experiences and relationships.
We discussed his use of Vignettes which come in between each story and explain the original chapter name.
Context –
We spoke about USA in the 1920’s (post ww1) – that it was a period of The American Dream, Economic Boom, Hollywood and a big movie scene. We also said that it was a time of industrialisation; quality of life shifted, it was a time of modernisation so this would have an effect on Hemingway’s writing. We said that 1920’s is the US was also a time of rebellion and prosperity so the book would include Hemingway’s response to this.
Biographical Context –
In Hemingway’s late teens he moved to Europe and was involved in the war. He worked in transporting soldiers and in the war canteen. His leg was wounded by a shell bomb so we know that his physical damage by the war would have influenced his writing. Hemingway met a nurse in Milan called Agnes (F) who promised to move over to the US . When he returned to the US he received a letter from Agnes saying that their love wasn’t as true as she originally thought and she went on to marry an Italian. We discussed that this heartbreak and sense of loss would have affected his writing. We also said that Hemingway’s first hand experience of the futile destruction of way would have played a huge part in his writing as he experienced physical and emotional damage.
We learnt that Hemingway worked for a newspaper meaning he was consistently writing for a period of time. He learnt skills whilst working at the newspaper of writing in a simplistic way which he says he continued to perfect it after leaving the job.
We spoke about Paris in the 1920’s as Hemingway moved there Paris and was living there at the time of writing ‘In Our Time’. It was a time of promiscuity and experimentation like the Moulin Rouge which was introduced. It was an artistic period of time; painters like Picasso inspired Hemingway’s writing. Cézannes cubist style of art influenced Hemingway. He said that he was ‘trying to do the country like Cexanne’ suggesting his writing was deliberately simplified. Paris was forward-thinking and ahead of the fashion so Hemingway’s writing would reflect this.
We also discussed the iceberg theory – the idea that the writer only reveals one eighth of the main points and leaves the seven eighths out to leave the reader to make their own interpretation.
“Make it new” – Ezra Proud encouraged Hemingway to write new material and make it different to what had already been done.
We discussed the effect of the use of In Medias Res which is when the relation of a story begins at either the midpoint or the conclusion, rather than the beginning. We said that this creates a sense of confusion for the reader which leaves an effect on them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDw1_yV6ufM
The text is fairly simple and doesn’t use long, complex words, however, I found it quite hard to follow and I was a bit confused. I mean, I think I understand what’s happening but it all seems a bit shocking and blunt. Despite this, I am interested to know why the first part of the text was written in that way and what it is particularly about.
ReplyDeleteAlice:
ReplyDelete'Hemingway really confused the reader throughout most of the text. It was quite creepy when he spoke about the dead babies, and this also reminded me of his short story about unworn baby shoes. The vignette really pulled the reader in and I found it quite humourous.'
The story seems really confusing at first by never establishing the setting or the characters. This is done by the words "we" and "they"-which are unknown to the reader and this adds an element of mystery. I researched "In our Time" a little and found that all the short stories that compile the book, are about the first world war. Therefore, the deliberate confusion this particular srtory creates may be to demonstrate how disorientating and difficult the war was on the soldiers, in this case the navy.
ReplyDeleteThe disturbing image of all the babies being born as corpses may be representative of all the lives being lost in the war and how Hemingway is shocked by the huge scale of loss.
Amelia:
ReplyDelete'I am, like most of the class, very confused by the first chapter of 'In our time'. Hemingway’s writing is noticeably different to most texts i have read. The writer makes sure he gets straight to the point, using short sentences and simplistic language. However i am unsure whether he fully understands the point he is trying to get to in the first place.
His style of writing also emphasises on the idea that he only gives the audience 1/8 of the full concept of the story. Throughout the extract, the reader is given the beginning or a slight glimpse of something understandable but then it quickly turns into something most incomprehensible.
Hemingway’s ideas that are brought forward during chapter one are constantly changing courses, and often take quite bizarre routes. For example, the chapter ends by Hemmingway describing the breaking of animals forelegs and being dumped in the river as a ‘pleasant business’. This all seems very strange to me.
I found On The Quai At Smyrna unlike anything I had read before. Although it was quite confusing, it really evoked a interesting feel as it evoked interest in the reader to understand exactly what was happening.
ReplyDeleteHe starts the story as if carrying on from a previous dialog, "The strange thing was," giving the piece a colloquial tone but also adds a sense of intrigue in the reader. This is further created by he use of pronouns which have not been explained so that the reader does not entirely know who he his talking about and so that all the "he"s may be united as one, again further alienating the reader from the story. Hemingway also removed any connections between the ideas in the text, making it appear disjointed, almost like a stream of consciousness.
However, he does give slight indications of what may be happening by giving the reader visual cues such as the "officers." this allows the reader to gain a minimal understanding of what is going on, thus allowing them to imagine what may be going on and to make their own inferences. Which links to Hemingway's view that literature should be like an iceberg.
I also found his descriptions of quite gruesome images quite disturbing because of his straightforward and abrupt tone.
This accumulatively alienates and shocks the reader in order for them to feel the detrimental effects of what he had to face during war.
Lesson 2
ReplyDeleteIn this lesson we took a deeper look at “On The Quai At Smyrna” and “Indian Camp.”We discussed our feeling about the story and although most of us were confused by it, we found his work intriguing and interesting.
“On The Quai At Smyrna”
1. The story starts In Medias nes by opening as if continuing from a previous dialog, creating a colloquial tone. This also alienates the reader by depriving them of information that would help them understand the story.
2. He uses unexplained pronouns continuously again to alienate the reader by confusing them about the characters as this almost makes them a single entity without any distinctions
between them.
3. There is little connection between the ideas and themes in the story, making it seam like a stream of consciousness or even a nightmare.
4. However, he does give some indication of what the story is about by using a few nouns such as “Officer,” to establish the foundations of the story, but leave the rest unexplained so as to evoke a sense of confusion in his reader.
5. Due the lack of adjectives and explanation, the protagonist seems almost detached from the events, making them seem even more shocking because of the off-hand way in which they are presented.
6. Hemingway also uses repletion of important points such as “babies,” to show their importance and so that they stay with the reader.
7. The use of words such as “pleasant,” adds a sense of irony and sarcasm, as do the short sentences.
8. There is little flow to the story
“Indian Camp,”
ReplyDelete1. The story begins, again, in medias nes shown by the fact there was “another,” boat, without any explanation of the first. Although, he indicates the setting, there is still an air of myster about why they are there. It is almost as though he has assumed that you know why they are there already.
2. The style is simplistic and childish; starting many of the sentences with the subject makes it seem as if a child had written it. This reflects the story’s theme of innocence and the end of innocence.
3. There is no emotion in the text.
4. Hemingway gives some unusual detail about the man’s head turned to one side and the women’s to the other, signifying birth and death
5. He also pays attention to the smell of the room, showing its importance in the story as it hints at the man’s death.
6. Innocence is also shown in Nick’s questions.
7. The end of innocence is shown when “dad,” is suddenly referred to as “doctor,”
8. The dad is quite dominating and powerful, but also is slightly proud and arrogant, shown in his thoughts about the operation.
General points about Hemingway:
1. He deliberately shows violence, in senselessness and confusion of his stories to evoke this feeling in the reader so as to allow them to experience his life, in particular the war.
2. He wishes to alienate the reader.
3. He only reveals 1/8th of the story allowing the rest to be imagined
4. He hardly ever uses adjectives, so when he does they are pivotal to the story.
5. Themes: birth and death
Things to think about: Characterisation, setting, narrative technique, events, the central focus, genre, language and structure.
A perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3en-bqF-cL4
I enjoyed my first piece of Hemingway
ReplyDeleteit was slightly confusing he is using the iceberg technique only giving use a certain amount of information and allow space for our own personal interpretation. I have seen that Hemingway has a fairly simplistic style of writing which I have enjoyed so far.
I found the doctor and the doctors wife quite strange, merely because of it's contrast the the other stories we have studied so far. Hemingway introduced all of his character and even gave quiet detailed descriptions of heir heritage, appearance and temperament. It was interesting to have the recurrence of characters called Nick and Doctor which made me wonder what the significance of that name or profession is.
ReplyDeleteIn the end of something, where was a quite a lot of detail about the past and the end of the mill, which I now think was a metaphor of the end of the relationship between Marjorie and Nick. However, this is little explanation about the characters, especially Bill, and their intentions and feelings. This, like others of Hemingway's stories, makes us guess the nature of what has happened as well as why things have happened.
There was a recurrence of the Mill and the character Nick, which I found interesting.
There was a great deal of repetition such as "trolling," and how hey baiting their fishing lines.
I thought 'The End of Something' was quite different to Indian Camp. It's written from the point of view of Nick at a much older age, which we can see because the story told is much clearer and more detailed, whereas Indian Camp sounds a bit like a dream because we're not given enough detail, most likely because Nick (Hemingway) can't remember everything about it, as it's a childhood memory. However, he still uses his iceberg technique.
ReplyDeleteIn this short story he seems to be visiting his hometown with Marjorie, who seems to be his lover or wife accompanying him. I think Hemingway shows in this story the break up between him and Marjorie. It isn't said that they break up, but as we know Hemingway wouldn't provide that exact information. It seems like they break up because she rows away in the fishing boat, and it doesn't sound as if she plans on returning. They also speak as if they're dishing out reasons to break up 'it isn't fun anymore'.
The random addition of Bill at the end is quite suspicious because it sounds like he's been watching Nick and Marjorie all the while.
Once again, we see the overall plot in the story to do with fishing, fighting and not necessarily fucking but there are references to it 'they sat on the blanket without touching each other'.
I found 'the doctor and the doctors wife' quite interesting actually. It was much better suited to my style of reading and I understood what Hemmingway was narrating. However, the relationship between the doctor & his wife seemed quite strange to me as there seemed to be a certain coldness between them, although she calls the doctor 'my dear' her tone seems as though she is addressing a child and also the way she treats him.
ReplyDelete'The End of Something' made me contemplate whether the 'Nick' in the story was the grown up version of 'Nick' in 'Indian Camp' or if it was actually him. It evidently narrates the end of their relationship and it seems to me that some stories in the book are less confusing than others.
The Doctor and the Doctors wife contained alot more detail than what we have previously read of Hemingway. it is shows us more of an insight into the family of the doctor, Nick and the wife. it is interesting how we see a little more about who the doctor is and the unaffectionate relationship with his wife.
ReplyDeletei found the vignette interesting as it appeared to be about war against the germans, which to me, did not seem to fit into the theme.
i found The End Of Something quite unusual in relation to hemigways style as the first paragraph was in alot of detail and left little to our imagination. once again this story is focused on Nick but i was intrigued at the fact that he seemed alot older than a young boy, as he appeared in the previous stories. i found Nick and Marjories relationship quite odd as when they discussed how unhappy they were. it seemed like Nick did not feel eanything for her and he remained calm and blunt.
I preferres reading'Indian Camp'to 'The Doctor and the Doctor's wife' as I generally found the content more interesting. We learn more about the Doctor's character which i guess makes the story more interesting as we see how cold he acts towards his wife, as well as nick. I found that there were some parts of the story that were sinister like 'He sat with the gun on his knees. He was very find of it.' I also found that the Vignettes create a sense of detachment which adds an element of confusion to the story.
ReplyDeleteI found 'The end of Something' much more interesting as there seemed to be more description in it, which i found to be more suited to my style of reading. This can be seen in the short second paragraph, which i guess makes it stand out amongst the other, more simplistic paragraphs. Furthermore, I found the title of this to be quite ironic as the novel has just practically started. In additon, Nick seems to be grown up in this part of the story and he sounds a bit like his dad (but that might just be me), especially when he says 'You don't want to take the ventral fin out...It'll be all right for bait but it's better with the ventral fin in'- cold and unemotional.
The simplistic and striaght to the point style of writing found in both of Hemmingway's short stories ['The end of Something' and 'The doctor and the Doctors wife'] was the first thing that caught my attention. In place of linguistic devices which give readers a rough idea to base their interpretations on, the lack of embelished words suggests hidden meaning and allows the readers more space for a wider range of possible interpretations. I found 'The Doctor and the Doctors wife' slightly uninteresting mainly due to the point that the story was cut off at what seemed to be the climax. However, in another point of view this could be interpreted at Hemmingway's intention; to involve the readers by allowing them the possibility of predicting the future actions of the characters.
ReplyDeleteI thought the story showed a really interesting insight into the relationships between father and son and husband and wife which the reader can empathize with and 'experience'. He leaves information out about the suicide devises which makes the plot more subtle.
ReplyDelete'The Doctor and the doctors wife' intersted me deeply as I was given an insight into the attitude of the doctor. He seems a fairly volatile man and it affects his relationship with his wife as she knows when to stop questioning him. The recurrance of the characters form Indian Camp suggest that they may have been real characters from Hemmingways experience.
ReplyDelete'The End of Something' surprised me as the story began with the setting of the scene. This was very significant as it symbolised a new beginning and also perhaps a new attitude. However, even though love is evident in the story unlike the previous ones, the character Nick seems to act in the same morose and despondent manner like his father, the doctor. This is quite sad as I feel the son has picked up his attitude. These are seen in the short and snappy responses to his love interest. There is no emotion whatsover.
Clarence
Well, there's not much for me to say as all my points have been said above (it's my fault for being so late..) but I thought it was interesting how 'The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife' links back to 'Indian Camp'. It gave me a further insight to what Nick's father was like following on from 'Indian Camp', however, I did enjoy reading 'Indian Camp' more as it was shocking and more themes were brought up within the actual story line.
ReplyDeleteAlso, 'The End of Something' was quite a nice read as it was romantic (how very typical of me) and it had a different feel to it - although I think that was mainly because Nick's character was more mature. Overall, I am enjoying the works of Hemingway and I have read a little further on and I especially love 'Cat in the Rain' :)
I agree that in 'The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife' there's a cold feeling about their relationship, but it seems almost comfortable - 'It's all right, dear'. I'm pretty sure that in these stories Nick is Hemingway and the doctor is his father. He portrays his mother, the Doctor's wife, as a weak character, and his father seems stronger, and although in the story Nick looks up to his father, Hemingway seems to be looking back on the memories of his father not so fondly, because he portrays him as temperamental and his parents' relationship doesn't sound equal. This story is clearer than 'Indian Camp', so I'm guessing it's about a later point in his childhood, because he remembers more detail about it.
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor and the Doctor's wife = silent masculinity. At the end, the doctor feels the need to get out his shotgun and go hunting to express his masculinity after his pride is wounded by Boulton.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the story 'The End of Something,' refers to the end of Hortons Bay as a rich, lumbering town and Nick and Marjorie's relationship. But, their relationship is reflected as a sort of ongoing cycle because Hemingway keeps using ephemeral images (moon, sun rises and sets, waves rise and fall.) I don't think Nick is gay-he obvs still likes Marjorie but feels that he has to leave her for some reason. She spreads out the blanket between the 'fire and lake,' and the 'fire-light went as far as the water.' The idea is that the light reaches the water but not the actual fire- you can't mix fire and water which could be symbols for the characters (we STILL don't even know anything about the characters to understand why they can't be together.) 'The hills were beginning to sharpen in the sky,' which is this truth becoming clearer
Lesson 3:
ReplyDeleteWe started this lesson by examining a picture of naked women that showed their portrayal in Hemingway's time. When asked to provide adjectives describing it, popular answers were words like "grotesque" "unhappy" "objectifying" "immodest".
We then advanced to naming the techniques Ernest Hemingway uses in his texts to captivate his audience.
These included: Fragmentation, which is most accurately described as a "choppy stream of consciousness", like a thought track but broken up-i.e. fragmented.
Multi perspectivalism/cubism, which was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature.
Omission/the 'iceberg' technique: Hemingway piques the readers interest by giving them only the minimal amount of information, and leaving them to work the rest out themselves, which shrouds his stories in mystery.
Intensified objectivity: Hemingway writes utterly unemotionally, which often serves to shock the reader when unfortunate events are outlined in a casual tone, for example "all those horses with their broken forelegs floating around. It was a very pleasant business".
Skeptical of progress: Hemingway often writes in a very sombre, pessimistic tone, one which is especially apparent in Indian Camp: one suspects that it does not end pleasantly from the start of the story.
Medias res: Hemingway typically begins his stories in medias res; without giving a setting, but starting straight from action. This also makes the reader think, which involves them more with the story.
We then read and analysed "The End of Something" wherein a young man, Nick, goes out with a young woman, Marjorie, at night. They are in a boat on a lake, which Nick rows, setting lines to catch fish. They draw up the boat on a beach and begin to talk, while Marjorie brings out a basket of food for supper. Nick seems to be picking a quarrel with Marjorie, and eventually tells her that their relationship is not fun any more. Marjorie leaves, and after a while Nick's friend, Bill, arrives. He asks about Marjorie, and we see that Nick must have told Bill what he was going to do. Nick tells Bill to go away - but Bill does not go far, helping himself to a sandwich and going to look at Nick's fishing rods.
We were asked to look at the possible themes of this story, and the meaning of its title. The most obvious meaning would be the end of Nick and Marjorie's relationship, but examining it further one noticed more to the story than first meets the eye. For example, the title could mean the end of an era: Nick's pretence of being heterosexual-we noticed the sentence "Bill did not touch him either" situated towards the end of the story-why would Bill touch him? This sentence seems to have sinister implications.
We then answered the above question by examining form, structure and language-how each leads us to different interpretations of the story. We also answered the question why we thought Nick acted in the way he did when he broke up with Marjorie, and whether we thought he was being considerate or not. Some answered yes because he was quite gentle about it, and acted like he did because he did not want to hurt her feelings. Others answered no: that he was being cruel by going out fishing with her as that was their favourite pastime to do together, so the break up would taint the memory for her.
I liked this lesson because it opened my mind to perceiving deeper meanings and subplots of a text, instead of skimming the surface and making immediate assumptions. It also helped me to understand the effectiveness of Hemingway's unique methods and why he uses them.
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.sparknotes.com/lit/inourtime/section7.rhtml
ReplyDeleteI thought this was in interesting website to look at, concerning different interpretations of The End Of Something.
I think that Hemingway's story, "The Hills Like White Elephants" was an errective story as the title was idiomatic as the story was about something that needed to be avioded and a whte elephant is a metaphor of that. Also the way the story was written was interesting as the reader was not sure of what was going on not even until the very end.
ReplyDelete