Thursday, 21 October 2010

Half term homework

Through reference to at least three quotes (from different stories) discuss the effectiveness of one stylistic technique that Hemingway uses. This must include a discussion of the effect on the reader.

15 comments:

  1. Hemingway tends to use repetition various times in his stories. Although it is not his key stylistic technique, the use of repetition seems to enhance the tension in his stories or expresses the intensity of a character’s emotions. As Hemingway is known for the three F’s in his writing the repetition he uses mostly exaggerates ‘Fucking’ as it is constantly used when portraying his character’s sexual frustrations or affections. Like in ‘Cat in the Rain,’ Hemingway chooses to repeat ‘she liked the’ to convey how the American wife craves the attention the hotel keeper offers her as she does not receive this generous behaviour from her own husband. The repetition of the word ‘liked’ emphasises on her desire to be acknowledged and the reader is likely to feel her desperation as it is built up numerously until it reaches its zenith. This technique is also used in ‘Up in Michigan’ when again Hemingway decides to repeat ‘she liked it’ to strengthen the readers awareness of Liz’s sexual infatuation towards Jim that could be somewhat lethal, which is why she herself is afraid to admit to it. The reader is likely to be effected by the fear that is exerted from Liz’s neglected lust causing a certain apprehension for her fate in the story. This form of repetition is carried on in the ‘Soldiers Home’ again ‘he liked to’ or ‘he liked their’ is repeated showing Krebs’s aggravated sexual desire, and the persistence of these phrases highlights the importance of the character’s emotions. The reader will be affected by the compelling repetition of sexual longing in these stories and they will gain a better understanding of the character’s feelings.

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  2. One of Hemingway’s stylistic methods of writing is the blunt, short and indistinguishable use of speech made by the male characters throughout the short stories of ‘In Our Time’ to emphasis their role as men, male domination and their masculinity. As masculinity is a mutual theme, Hemingway effectively expresses this through dialogue, for instance, the character of Nick’s father treats incidents such as the suicide in ‘Indian Camp’ with silence and brief discussion, despite being questioned by his son on the horrific event; he answers, “I don’t know, Nick. He couldn’t stand things, I guess,” which demonstrates the strong, silent masculine role that Nick’s father prefers to take on so that Nick would follow in his father’s footsteps. The short response also illustrates Nick’s father’s possible mocking tone towards the husband’s suicide – the doctor believes that the husband performed a more feminine act, as he mentions that not many men end their life that way. This can also be seen throughout ‘The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife’, where the doctor’s personality can be exemplified through his way of speaking, he is blunt here and displays the qualities Hemingway thought that men should have had.

    Moreover, this is noticeable in the way the husband’s character speaks in ‘Out Of Season’, as he makes brief remarks to his wife and orders her to go back; this technique Hemingway uses stresses the male-domination throughout the stories within ‘In Our Time’. Likewise, the character of the male characters in both ‘Cat in the Rain’ and ‘Hills Like White Elephants’, clearly show the theme of male domination throughout their use of speech when talking to their wife, in ‘Cat in the Rain’, George is mostly silent and disagrees with his wife with short, agitated comments; “Oh shut up and get something to read”, Hemingway’s clever technique makes the character seem more leading in the relationship, even with the lack of description and verbal communication. The line, “Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything,” in ‘Hills like White Elephants’ shows the insignificance of female’s views were, highlighting Hemingway’s technique in showing masculinity.

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  3. In a lot of his works, Hemingway has used fragmentation. His writing is often choppy through the use of stream of consciousness and the vignettes in 'In Our Time'. An example of where this can be seen is in 'Up in Michigan' where the dialogue between all the characters is short, but Jim and Liz in particular towards the end of the story. This reflects the tension in their relationship, but this technique creates tension more generally as well. The 'choppiness' is enhanced by the fact that there are short sentences of plain description inbetween the dialogue(eg 'Neither Jim nor Jim's big hand paid any attention to her.')which contrasts the hectic scene in this part of the story.
    In addition, the use of fragmentation can be seen in 'Cat in the Rain' in the dialogue between the man and his wife. However, in this story, this is emphasised in a slightly different way due to the use of another language, which makes the reader feel slightly out of place or disorientated. This can be seen where he writes 'Il piove' and 'Avanti'.
    Furthermore, fragmentation can be seen through the vignettes of all the stories which appear in 'In Our Time'. These put the reader off-balance as they seem completely detached from the stories that they're attached to, if they're even supposed to be attached to them. They seem to all revolve around the reoccurring theme of war as suggested by words and phrases like 'machine-gun fire', 'rubble' and 'twisted' which all have connotations of war and the effects of it.

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  4. In his stories, Hemingway tends to simplify dialogue between characters, and it’s quite obvious that he’s left dialogue out to leave room for the reader’s interpretation of what’s said in between, building on his iceberg writing technique (providing 1/8 of the information he possesses and leaving 7/8 to the readers interpretation). Leaving out dialogue leaves the reader to imagine what was said, and in some cases trying to work out what they’re actually talking about, for example in ‘Hills like White Elephants’ it’s unclear what they’re talking about. To me it seems like they’re discussing marriage – ‘I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.’ They carry on talking about whether to ‘do’ whatever it is for two pages, without specifying what it is. Hemingway provides all of the background dialogues of their argument, making it seem pointless. This gives the reader the same view as him, that talking creates complication, which he expresses in ‘Soldier’s Home ‘ – ‘Now he would have liked a girl if she had come to him and not wanted to talk’.
    He also leaves out dialogue in ‘The End of Something’ – ‘It isn’t fun any more. Not any of it.’ ‘I feel as though everything was gone to hell inside of me.’ It is unclear here as to what they’re talking about, and it’s very unlikely that this was their actual conversation. He leaves any word of subject out of the dialogue so that the reader sees the talking as pointless, and has to work out what they’re speaking of. There are also stories in which he doesn’t use this technique, for example in ‘Up in Michigan’ – “No we haven’t, Jim. We ain’t got to. Oh, it isn’t right. Oh, it’s so big and it hurts so. You can’t. Oh, Jim. Jim, Oh.’ – what’s she’s talking about here is really quite obvious. This whole story has a different tone, but I think that’s because he’s speaking from knowledge or observance rather than experience in this story (in most stories the male character is himself), not about himself, as he’s critical of the male character; he makes him sound like a thuggish, forceful man – ‘Neither Jim nor Jim’s hand paid any attention to her.’ During his summers in Hortons Bay he was befriended by a couple called Liz and Jim, so the story is most likely about them and not him.

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  5. Hemingways writing can appear childlike in some ways due to the 'iceberg techniqe' he has adopted, using only essential words often making the tone seem blunt and quite confronting. This technique is used in 'hills like white elephants'where the American man and girl start talking about an "awfully simple operation." The effect this has on us is that it leaves us wondering what is wrong with her as Hemingway never tells us, leaving the reader to come to their own conclusion about what would be happening to this woman.
    This iceberg technique is also present in 'cat in the rain', as the wife begins to list all of the things she wants. her husband starts to get snapppy at her after she starts saying "i want to eat at a table with my own silver and i want candles." She says this very matter of factly and petulantely. This sudden need for these things from the wife is out of the blue and as a reader, you dont quite know what to make of it.
    In addition, 'soldier's home' has a few things in it that could be interpreted in different ways. For example, Krebs talks to his sister and says, "sure. you're my girl now." This statement is rather blunt and quite odd seeing as they are siblings. I would see this as the iceberg technique as he could be suggesting various different things to the reader but it is up to us to decide what it means.

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  6. Hemingway commonly uses the ice-berg technique in his writing whereby he does not reveal all of the information to the reader, leaving them to interpret what has happened for themself. He uses this throughout the whole of 'Hills Like White Elephants' by using simple words in the dialogue between 'him' and 'her' (he does not reveal thier names). The repitition of "it" in thier conversation confuses the reader and makes them want to know what the characters are referring to, "I don't want you to do it if you really don't want to", gives a sense of mystery.
    He also uses this technique in 'Out Of Season' by using unfamiliar language and settings. He uses words such as "rods", "Cortina", "Geld" and "Lire" ,which are either a different language or simply unfamiliar to the reader, unexplained. This creates a sense of confusion and finds the reader struggling to piece the events in the story together.
    He uses this technique very similarly in 'Soldier's Home' by using outlandish vocabulary which creates a sense of mystery and also disorientation for the reader. "There was a picture which shows him on the Rhine...The Rhine does not show in this picture", this refers to a particular place or thing the reader might not know without research or knowledge, therefore we feel confused and this interrupts our reading. Hemingway does this on purpose to perhaps make us think and leave us thinking.

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  7. The concept of duality reoccurs throughout Hemingway's stories. In 'Up in Michigan,' the two protagonists, Liz and Jim, are introduced in two consecutive paragraphs. In Indian Camp there are 'two Indians,' two boats, the Indian woman has been 'trying to have her baby for two days.' In 'The Three Day Blow,' Bill comes back 'with two glasses,' and a 'pair' of socks. In 'The Battler' there is 'water on both sides of the tracks.' In 'Hills Like White Elephants' Jig takes hold of two strings of beads.' In his vignettes Hemingway writes that there are 'two Americans,' 'two German girls,' 'two Austrians,' 'two priests.'

    Additionally, Hemingway uses antithetical images and the idea of a 'division.' This is most significantly shown in the themes of Indian Camp: childbirth and death, the American and Indian cultures, man and woman, light and dark, the division created from the upper and lower bunks. Hemingway also uses counterpoint in Indian Camp when Nick trails his hand in the water that 'felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning.'

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  8. Hemingway uses In Media Res to create a sense of confusion for the reader. And also combines this with using a variety of pronouns also makes his structure choppy.
    In The Battler, Hemingway writes 'He felt of his knee. The pants were torn and the skin was barked.' By saying 'the' instead of 'his', there is a sense of disconnection between the reader and Nick.
    In 'Cat in the rain' Hemingway refers to the Aerican woman as 'The American Wife'. Later on she is called 'The American girl'. This confuses the reader and shifts the readers view around.

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  9. In the beginning of each of Hemingway's stories he gives the reader a brief history and background of the place we are being introduced to, as he does so when we see the "hills across the valley of ebro" in 'Hills like white elephants'. The title of that oarticukar story is always mentioned in the opening page, usually by a character stating something obvious about his/her surroundings "A cat in the rain?".
    His simplistic style of writing is overlooked by his complex subtext for example, the conversation between Liz and Jim in 'Up In Michigan' show largely how their relationship effects them both "No we haven't Jim. We ain't got to" Hemingway shows Jim's lack of interest by his minimal speech and developed narration "Jim didn't seem to notice her"

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  10. Hemingway uses the technique of following a single storyline, without subplots, that takes place on one single day. These are the three classical unities. He also writes mostly in the third person which is effective as it limits the narration to what the characters say and do, by not revealing their thoughts. This links to his infamous 'iceberg theory' of only writing on the surface and making the reader explore deeper meanings to the text. For example, in "Hills like White Elephants"- the man says "It's really an awfully simple operation Jig. It's not really an operation at all." The conversation on that topic then ends giving no clear indication as to what the 'operation' is or why Jig seems to be reluctant to his persuasion. By delving into the whole text it is suggested that they are discussing the idea of an abortion, but again it is never obvious. Similarly, as the icebrg theory relates a lot to symbolism, the 'rain' and lush garden in "Cat in the Rain" could be said to symbolise fertitily. This is furthered by the fact that once the woman opens the door outiside she sees a man in a rubber cape, "A man
    in a rubber cape was crossing the empty square to the café." The rubber cape is seen as protection from the rain, and rain is a fundamental necessity for fertility, just as fertility is precisely what is lacking in the young American wife’s marriage. We know this because of her husband's unresponsive manner and mere disinterest in whatever she has to say. Lastly, like in "Hills like White Elephants" when the operation was ambiguous, in "The End of Something" it is hinted that the reason Nick is ending his relationship with Marjorie is because he has discovered he is homosexual. This is hinted many times, firstly the mere presence of "Bill" at the end, and the fact that throughout the story there is constant reference to the lack of connection between the couple. For example, "They ate without talking" and "They sat on the blanket without touching eachother". Also, Nick never seems to have a solid reason as to why he is ending things, he often responds with "I don't know what to say". This confuses the reader and forces one to look below the surface and try to seek the true meaning of what Hemingway is trying to say.

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  12. Hemingway uses the stream of consciouness technique in a lot of his stories. For example in 'On the Quai at Smyrna' when he says 'you remember the habour. There were plenty of nice things floating around in it.' It is like he is speaking to us, he is putting everything in his mind into words - he need to let all these memories out in order to move on.
    In 'soldiers home' it says 'he would miss that one.he wanted his life to go smoothly'. When the reader reads this, they get an insite into his mind and feelings towards life. Hemingway's a stream of consciousness is shown in many of his vignette's. One of which before the chapter 'soldiers home'. It starts by describing the wounded soldier's last thoughts - a prayer, 'Oh Jesus Christ, get me out of here.'This religious imagery suggests Hemingway at last resort would turn to god, readers begin to emphathise with his past experiences, imagining how desperate he was.

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  13. Amelia said...

    Throughout in our time the style of Hemingway’s writing is incredibly short and direct. In all of the short stories there are elements of this aggressive tone to his writing, which leaves the audience with a sense of straight forward thinking. On example where Hemingway’s use of short sentences is in the story ‘Up in Michigan’ where the author uses short sentences to describe the main characters relationship, as this quote suggests ‘Liz liked Jim very much.’ here Hemmingway outlines in a basic and precise way Liz’s feelings for Jim. Hemingway only gives the audience the necessary and relevant information which I believe is very effective as it engages the reader with the writing more. This use of short sentences is also present in ‘Cat in the rain’, however Hemingway mainly uses this technique to illustrate movement. For example in the line ‘The American wife stood at the window looking out’ this description is very snappy and to the point and moves the story along quickly which is good. Finally, Hemingway’s minimalist style can be seen in the story ‘Out of season’; in the quote ‘ The wife stopped lagging behind and walked up‘ Hemingway again uses short sentences to illustrate the distance between man and woman, Hemingway is trying to portray the difficulty with which men and women get along.

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  14. Hemingway uses the iceberg technique frequently in his stories, for example "there were only two Americans in the hotel" from Cat in The Rain: which gives just enough detial for the reader to unerstand, but not enough to fully comprehend the meaning, therefore creating interest as they want to know more. In Hills like White Elephants, Hemingway does not reveal the protagonists' names, similar to Cat in the Rain, where he says "the American wife", and "the American girl" therein stripping them of their identity and evoking mystery.
    Hemingway also often attempts (and succeeds) to confuse the reader, for example in On the Quai atSmyrna, the reader is left in the dark as to why the women's babies die. This technique is employed in almostevery single one of Hemingway's stories, and alloows readers to form their own intrepretations of the texts, which may or may not be Hemingway's intention. I find it an effective technique because it leaves a certain amount to the imagination, a method which I prefer in stories as the imagination is a writer's most powerful weapon.

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  15. Hello everyone!
    So basically, here's some of the things that we discussed in class today;
    So as you guys know, we read 'Big Two-Hearted River: Part I' and also'Part II'. A theme that is consistent in both stories is 'Fishing'. We can see this as there are long passages that just talk about the trout and the water. In 'Part I', Nick seems to keep track of where the river is even though he passed it a while back. We talked about how the journey that he's going on involves him leaving his past behind him, but the fact that 'The river was there' in Nick's and our vision, we get the impression that there's something that he can't let go of; a memory, perhaps. This phrase has been subtly placed by Hemingway as it's short and blunt, but it has been put between other, slightly longer phrases. This emphasises it's meaning as we are made to look back at it as the smooth pace is broken by the shortness of the sentence.
    A little later on, we are told that 'Nick's heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling.' This is isolated from the other paragraphs which makes it stand out to the reader. It tells us that he has a strong connection with the fish, despite them being so deep in the water. He could also be talking about his past experiences of fishing with his dad. As Nick 'felt all the old feeling', we can deduce that he is presently quite weak and perhaps broken as well.
    In addition, this story has parts of more description, which is unusual as Hemingway's writing is usually plain and laconic. An example of where we can see this is when Nick 'felt he had left everything behind, the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs.' However, we aren't told, in true Hemingway style the 'other needs', and so we are left to our own devices to work out what they might be.
    In the vignette that follows, we see the consistent theme of death in the first few words; 'They hanged'. There's also a strange phrase that the priest says; 'Be a man, my son', which questions the man's masculinity through religion.

    The second story seems to pick up the pace at the beginning due to the use of more descriptive words such as 'smooth' and 'excited'. There is also the use of more adverbs such as 'stiffly', 'rapidly', 'smoothly' and 'sharply', which could increase the pace, which is significant as the speed of the last story was very slow. The lively adverbs could also be representative of Nick's state of mind as he's happy and seems to be in a better place.
    Furthermore, there are words in this story such as 'bent double', 'heavy', 'dangerous' and 'mechanical shriek' which all have connotations of war. It can also be linked to the poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen as the descriptions are very passionate and some words link directly to the poem.
    Other words in the story could hint at sexual innuendos, for example, 'pumping' and' jerking', which tells us that Nick's fishing trip isn't just an ordinary fishing trip. This is confirmed when it says 'In the swamp fishing was a tragic adventure'.
    At the end of this story, we are made to question what the swamp actually represents as it ends with 'There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp.' Does it reflect a particular memory of his, a trench, perhaps due to the hints of him having been/being a soldier? I guess we are left to work this out for ourselves as well. The story finishes on a slightly confusing note, which seems normal to us at this point as Hemingway's writing can sometimes be hard to grasp.

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